i|r  Sunk  an&  Art 

3O   EAST  34TH  Sr. 
jQnttate. 
and  JJtrturea 

Tel.  Murray  Hill 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  VAT ICAN^ ROME  . 


THE^AOSQVE  or  ^.  SOPHIA,  CONSTANTINOPLE. 


THE 

ARCHKO  VOLUME; 

OR,  THE 

ARCHEOLOGICAL  WRITINGS  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM 
AND  TALMUDS  OF  THE  JEWS. 

(INTRA  SECUS.) 

THESE    ARE    THE    OFFICIAL    DOCUMENTS    MADE    IN    THESE 
COURTS  IN   THE   DAYS   OF   JESUS   CHRIST. 

TRANSLATED  BY 

DRS.  McESTOSH  AND  TWYMAN, 

OF  THE  ANTIQUAKIAN  LODGE,  GENOA,  ITALY. 


FROM   MANUSCRIPTS  IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

AND  THE 

RECORDS   OF   THE   SENATORIAL  DOCKET   TAKEN  FROM  THE 
VATICAN   AT   ROME. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
ANTIQUARIAN   BOOK  COMPANY. 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
W.  F.  EANDALL. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

How  these  records  were  discovered      ....        9 


CHAPTER  II. 
A  short  sketch  of  the  Talmuds 52 

CHAPTER  III. 

Constantino's  letter  in  regard  to  having  fifty  copies  of 
the  Scriptures  written  and  bound  ....  60 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Jonathan's  interview  with  the  Bethlehem  shepherds — 
Letter  of  Melker,  Priest  of  the  Synagogue  at  Beth- 
lehem    .  64 

CHAPTER  V. 

Gamaliel's  interview  with  Joseph  and  Mary  and  others 
concerning  Jesus  .......79 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Report  of  Caiaphas  to  the  Sanhedrim  concerning  the 
execution  of  Jesus    .......       97 

(vii) 


2234775 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

PAGE 

Report  of  Caiaphas  to  the  Sanhedrim  concerning  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus        ......     117 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Valleus's  notes — "Acta  Pilati,"  or  Pilate's  report  to 
Caesar  of  the  arrest,  trial,  and  crucifixion  of  Jesus  .     128 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Herod  Antipater's  defence  before  the  Roman  Senate 
in  regard  to  his  conduct  at  Bethlehem      .        .         .148 

CHAPTER  X. 

Herod  Antipas's  defence  before  the  Roman  Senate  in 
regard  to  the  execution  of  John  the  Baptist    .        •     155 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Hillel  letters  regarding  God's  providence  to  the 
Jews,  by  Hillel  the  Third 161 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOW   THESE   RECORDS   WERE   DISCOVERED. 

SOME  time  in  the  year  1856,  while  living  in  De 
Witt,  Missouri,  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  H. 
C.  Whydaman  became  snow-bound  and  stopped  at 
my  house  several  days.  He  was  a  native  of  Ger- 
many, and  one  of  the  most  learned  men  I  had 
ever  met.  I  found  him  to  be  freely  communica- 
tive. During  his  stay,  he  told  me  he  had  spent 
five  years  in  the  city  of  Rome,  and  most  of  the 
time  in  the  Vatican,  where  he  saw  a  library  con- 
taining five  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  volumes. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  seen  and  read  the  records 
of  Tiberius  Csesar,  and  in  what  was  called  the  Ada 
Pilati — that  is,  the  acts  of  Pilate — he  had  seen  an 
account  of  the  apprehension,  trial,  and  crucifixion 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  but  said  it  did  not  add  much 
to  the  commonly  accepted  teachings  of  Christianity. 
He  told  me  he  thought  a  transcript  could  be  se- 
cured. After  Mr.  Whydaman's  departure,  I  medi- 
tated upon  what  he  had  told  me  of  those  records, 
and  thought  that  if  a  transcript  could  be  obtained 
it  would  be  very  interesting,  even  if  it  did  not  add 
much  to  the  present  teachings  of  Christianity  So, 

(9) 


10  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

after    some  months   I   set    about   tracing    up  Mr. 
Whydaman,  as  the  following  correspondence  shows  : 

DEWITT,  CAKKOLL  Co.,  Mo.,  Sept.  22, 1856. 

MR.  HENRY  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  After  you  left  my  house  last  spring, 
I  kept  thinking  of  your  telling  me  of  reading  the 
acts  of  Pilate  in  the  Vatican,  while  at  Rome.  I 
want  you,  if  you  please,  to  get  me  a  transcript  of 
those  records,  if  the  cost  will  not  be  too  much. 
Will  you  please  open  a  correspondence  with  some 
of  your  old  friends  at  Rome  that  you  can  rely  upon, 
and  ascertain  if  it  can  be  obtained  ;  and  if  so  what 
will  be  the  probable  cost  of  getting  it  ?  I  shall  be 
much  obliged,  and  will  pay  you  for  your  trouble 
and  expense. 

Yours  in  tender  regards, 

W.  D.  MAHAN. 

NEW  YORK,  Nov.  12, 1856. 

MR.  W.  D.  MAHAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  letter  as  directed  to  H.  C. 
Whydaman  is  received.  I  will  inform  you  he  has 
returned  to  Germany.  Your  letter  has  been  for- 
warded. 

Yours,  etc., 

C.  C.  VANTBERGER. 

March  2,  1857. 

REV.  W.  D.  MAHAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  It  is  with  the  kindest  regards  I  re- 
membered your  hospitality  while  with  you  in  Amer- 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  U 

ica.  Be  assured,  anything  I  can  do  for  you  will 
afford  me  great  pleasure.  I  have  written  to  Father 
Freelinhusen,  a  monk  of  great  learning,  at  Rome, 
who  is  the  chief  guardian  of  the  Vatican.  I  have 
made  the  request  in  my  own  name,  as  I  do  not  think 
they  would  be  willing  for  such  a  document  to  go 
into  the  hands  of  the  public.  When  he  answers,  I 
will  write  to  you  again. 

I  am,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

H.  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

WESTPHALIA,  GERMANY,  Nov.  27,  1857. 

REV.  W.  D.  MAHAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Father  Freelinhusen  has  answered 
my  letter  in  regard  to  the  transcript  you  want.  He 
informs  me  that  the  writing  is  so  fine,  and  being  in 
the  Latin  language,  as  I  told  you,  and  the  parch- 
ments so  old  and  dirty,  he  will  be  obliged  to  use  a 
glass  to  the  most  of  it.  He  can  only  give  it  in  the 
Latin,  as  he  does  not  understand  the  English.  He 
says  he  will  do  it  for  thirty-five  darics,  which  will 
be  in  American  coin  sixty-two  dollars  and  forty- 
four  cents.  If  you  will  forward  the  amount,  I  will 
have  the  document  forwarded  to  my  brother-in-law, 
C.  C.  Vantberger.  He  will  translate  it  for  a  trifle. 
I  am  yours,  in  tender  regards, 

H.  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

CHILLICOTHE,  Mo.,  Feb.  8,  1858. 

MR.  H.  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :     Thanks  to  you  for  your  kindness, 
and  be  assured,  if  I  succeed,  I  shall  ever  feel  under 


12  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

obligations  to  you  for  your  trouble.  Enclosed  find 
a  check  on  the  Foreign  Exchange  Bank  of  New 
York  for  sixty-two  dollars  and  forty-four  cents. 
Please  have  the  work  done,  and  urge  Mr.  Freelin- 
husen  to  have  it  a  true  copy  of  the  original.  Send 
it  to  Mr.  Vantberger,  and  have  him  to  translate  it 
into  English,  and  I  will  pay  the  charges.  He  has 
my  address. 

Yours,  as  ever, 

W.  D.  MAHAN. 

WESTPHALIA,  GERMANY,  June  14,  1858. 

REV.  W.  D.  MAHAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  acknowledge  your  draft  of  $62.44. 
Will  apply  as  you  request. 

I  am,  sir, 

H.  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

MR.  H.  C.  WHYDAMAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :    I  hereby  forward  to  you  the  tran- 
script as  it  is  on  record  in  the  Vatican  in  Tiberius 
Caesar's  Court  by  Pilate.     I  certify  this  to  be  a  true 
copy,  word  for  word,  as  it  occurs  there. 
Yours,  etc., 

PETER  FREELINHUSEN. 

NEW  YORK,  April  26,  1859. 

MR.  W.  D.  MAHAN. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  in  possession  of  a  document 
from  H.  C.  Whydaman,  with  instructions  to  trans- 
late it  into  English.  My  charge  is  ten  dollars.  I 
will  expect  an  answer. 

C.  C.  VANTBERGER. 


DISCO  VERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  13 

With  this  correspondence  I  received  the  following 
document,  and  I  must  confess  that,  although  it  js 
not  inspired,  yet  the  words  burned  in  my  heart  as 
the  words  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  his  disciples, 
and  I  am  satisfied  from  the  spirit  it  breathes  that  it 
must  be  true.  I  am  aware  that  though  the  Jews 
were  in  subjection  to  the  Romans,  yet  they  still  held 
their  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  the  Romans  not 
only  submitted  to  their  decisions,  but  executed  their 
decrees  on  their  subjects.  Knowing  there  was  not 
such  a  piece  of  history  to  be  found  in  all  the  world, 
and  being  deeply  interested  myself,  as  also  hundreds 
of  others  to  whom  I  have  read  it,  I  have  concluded 
to  give  it  to  the  public. 

Upon  getting  hold  of  this  report  of  Pilate  I  com- 
menced to  investigate  this  subject,  and  after  many 
years  of  trial  and  the  expenditure  of  considerable 
money,  I  found  that  there  were  many  of  such  records 
still  preserved  at  the  Vatican  in  Rome  and  at  Con- 
stantinople, that  had  been  carried  there  by  the  Em- 
peror of  Rome  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century. 
I  therefore  procured  the  necessary  assistance,  and  on 
September  21,  1883,  I  set  sail  for  those  foreign 
lands  to  make  the  investigation  in  person. 

Believing  that  no  event  of  such  importance  to  the 
world  as  the  death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  could  have 
transpired  without  some  record  being  made  of  it  by 
his  enemies  in  their  courts,  legislations,  and  histories, 
I  commenced  investigating  the  subject.  After  many 
years  of  study,  and  after  consulting  various  histories 
and  corresponding  with  many  scholars,  I  received  the 


14  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

assistance  of  two  learned  men,  Drs.  Mclntosh  and 
Twyman,  and  went  to  the  Vatican  at  Rome,  and 
then  to  the  Jewish  Talrnuds  at  Constantinople.  As 
a  result  I  have  compiled  this  book,  which  will  be 
found  one  of  the  most  strange  and  interesting  books 
ever  read.  It  may  appear  fragmentary,  but  the 
reader  must  remember  that  it  is  the  record  of  men 
made  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago. 

It  was  some  time  in  March,  1856,  that  my  mind 
was  awakened  on  the  subject  of  this  book,  almost 
incidentally,  or  it  may  be  providentially,  for  He 
sometimes  chooses  the  weakest  things  to  confound 
the  mighty.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  corre- 
spondence of  H.  C.  Whydaman  and  myself,  as  found 
in  this  book.  In  God's  providence  sometimes  very 
great  effects  are  produced  from  very  small  causes. 
Mr.  Whydaman  told  me  he  had  spent  five  years  in 
the  Vatican  at  Rome,  and  in  looking  over  the  old 
manuscripts  he  came  across  the  records  of  Pilate 
made  to  Caesar,  and  in  those  records  he  saw  where 
a  man  named  Jesus  was  arrested,  tried,  and  exe- 
cuted ;  he  read  it  carefully  and  re-read  it,  and  went 
back  and  read  it  again. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  my  investigation,  and 
this  book  is  the  product  of  that  investigation.  I  ask 
the  reader  to  follow  me  patiently  and  see  how  I  came 
to  get  hold  of  the  matter  contained  in  this  book. 

I  wondered  how  it  was  that  such  historians  as 
Philo,  Tacitus,  Quintilian,  and  Josephus  had  told 
us  nothing  or  so  little  about  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  I 
asked  all  the  wise  men  and  scholars  I  met,  and  they 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  15 

did  not  know ;  I  then  wrote  to  many  scholars  in 
Europe,  and  they  could  not  tell  me.  As  I  could 
find  nothing  very  definite  from  the  outside  world,  I 
began  to  have  my  doubts,  but  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  question  was  of  too  much  importance 
to  allow  my  mind  to  be  fixed  without  a  thorough 
investigation.  I  went  to  our  histories — Mosheim, 
Lardner,  Stackhouse,  and  others.  They  gave  me  no- 
satisfaction,  and  I  thought  to  myself,  Is  it  possible 
that  the  character  of  such  men  as  the  early  Chris- 
tians, and  the  wonderful  excitement  that  they  cre- 
ated in  their  day,  could  have  been  passed  over  and 
no  records  made  of  them  ?  When  I  remembered,  too,, 
that  the  Roman  provinces  in  that  day  were  prolific 
with  debaters,  historians,  and  writers  on  all  topics 
that  were  brought  before  them,  and  that  the  records 
of  the  courts  in  those  days  were  more  carefully  pre- 
served than  they  are  now,  and  that  even  of  the  trial 
of  Guiteau,  who  was  not  half  as  conspicuous  to  the 
people  of  these  United  States  as  Jesus  was  to  the 
Jewish  nation,  there  were  hundreds  of  records  made, 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  only  Almighty  God 
could  establish  a  cause  so  universally  as  the  Chris- 
tian religion  was  established  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  this  world,  and  sceptre  them  so  completely 
as  the  sceptre  of  Jesus  governs  this  world  to-day, 
when  they  had  comparatively  little  or  no  testimony 
from  the  outside  world. 

I  consulted  our  histories  in  this  country,  and  one 
said  these  records  were  burned  in  the  Alexandrian 
Library.  I  knew  the  Babylonian  Talmuds  were  in 


16  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

this  library,  or  at  least  most  of  them  were,  but  1 
also  knew  that  the  Talmuds  of  Jerusalem  were  not. 
I  knew  that  when  the  Romans  conquered  the  Jews 
and  destroyed  their  Holy  City,  temple  and  all,  all 
the  sacred  treasures  were  taken  by  the  Romans  and, 
I  supposed,  preserved. 

Another  historian  says  Gregory  IX.  burned  all 
the  sacred  records.  I  found  that  this  Roman  bishop 
was  a  strong  believer  in  Christ,  as  were  all  the 
Catholic  Church.  They  follow  not  us,  and  we  forbid 
them.  Why  should  they  burn  these  records  ?  There 
is  no  Church  more  strongly  in  favor  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
he  is  their  corner-stone,  their  foundation  rock,  their 
only  hope.  They  have  a  different  way  to  approach 
him.  This  does  not  destroy  their  Saviour;  he 
remains  the  same,  but  they  have  different  ways  of 
using  him  as  their  Saviour. 

Other  historians  said  the  Jews  destroyed  these 
records,  although  it  is  strange  that  the  Jews  should 
destroy  all  their  sacred  records  at  the  time,  to  get 
rid  of  an  impostor,  as  they  believed  him  to  be. 
It  is  more  likely  they  would  have  preserved  them 
to  vindicate  their  actions  in  the  future,  provided 
they  should  be  needed.  The  Jews  were  honest  in 
all  their  dealings  with  Christ ;  they  thought  both 
he  and  John  the  Baptist  were  destroying  their  na- 
tion, and,  as  their  nation  and  religion  were  one  and 
the  same,  the  course  Jesus  was  pursuing  jeopardized 
all  their  hopes,  religious  and  political.  This  is  seen 
clearly  in  the  defence  of  Caiaphas,  as  set  forth  in 
this  book  (see  his  defence  before  the  Sanhedrim  in 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  17 

regard  to  his  conduct  with  Jesus).  Hence,  much  of 
the  prejudice  among  Protestants  against  the  Jews  is 
groundless.  There  never  was  a  people  more  honest 
and  devoted  to  their  country  and  their  God  than 
the  Jews.  Many  Protestants  in  this  country,  and 
some  preachers  among  them,  think  that  the  more 
they  denounce  the  Jews  and  Catholics,  the  more 
they  serve  God.  The  Jews  were  wrong  in  rejecting 
Jesus  Christ  as  their  Saviour,  and  so  are  those  who 
reject  him  now  ;  but  when  a  man  reads  this  book 
he  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Jews  had  a 
better  reason  for  rejecting  Christ  than  men  have  to- 
day, and  would  it  be  right  to  abuse  all  who  refuse 
Christ  as  bad  men  ?  It  is  still  more  intolerable  for 
the  members  of  one  denomination  to  abuse  those  of 
another  because  of  not  worshipping  Christ  as  they  do. 
A  difficulty  I  met  in  consulting  scholars  on  this 
subject  was  the  claim  that  the  Roman  monks  had 
forged  many  manuscripts  regarding  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  middle  ages.  Now  they  may  have  forged  some 
things  to  sustain  their  peculiar  views  and  doctrines, 
something  to  sustain  their  Church  ;  but  there  is 
nothing  in  this  book  to  sustain  Catholicism,  and  if 
every  word  of  it  was  forgotten  it  would  add  nothing 
to  that  Church  more  than  to  any  other  Church. 
Then  I  remembered  the  Vatican  library  was  one  of 
the  most  extensive  in  the  world  ;  it  has  cost  millions 
of  dollars.  How  did  those  forgers  know  that  I  or 
any  other  man  would  come  there  and  pay  them  a 
few  dollars  to  get  a  transcript  of  those  records  ?  It 
certainly  would  be  a  very  poor  speculation. 
2 


18  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Another  objection  was  that  the  manuscripts  had 
been  searched  for  by  scholars  and  could  not  be 
found.  So  I  set  myself  to  work,  and  after  investi- 
gating all  the  authors  in  this  country,  and  writing 
to  many  scholars  in  Europe,  and  getting  books  from 
libraries  in  the  old  country,  thus  sparing  no  pains 
or  expense,  I  could  not  find  or  even  hear  of  a  man 
who  had  ever  investigated  this  subject.  I  found 
that  Dr.  Tischendorf  made  some  investigation  in 
these  ancient  manuscripts,  but  he  was  looking  for 
the  manuscript  of  the  Scriptures,  and  might  have 
seen  many  such  things  as  this  book  holds  and  never 
have  noticed  them,  just  from  the  simple  fact  that 
he  was  not  looking  for  them.  He  was  looking  for 
something  else.  In  the  investigation  of  such  sub- 
jects a  man  must  have  but  one  thing  in  his  mind, 
and  he  must  be  posted  beforehand  to  know  how  and 
where  to  look,  for  the  field  is  too  large  to  make  his 
business  general.  I  now  challenge  any  scholar  to 
show  me  the  man  who  has  made  this  his  special  busi- 
ness, and  made  the  effort  that  I  have  on  this  par- 
ticular subject.  I  am  sure  there  is  none. 

The  next  great  difficulty  that  I  encountered  was 
this:  Could  such  manuscripts  exist  so  long?  I 
found  by  investigating  that  Ptolemy,  King  of  Alex- 
andria, presented  seventy  books  to  Ezra,  which  he 
refused  to  place  in  the  Holy  Canon,  and  it  came 
very  near  bringing  on  a  bloody  war.  Again  I 
found  that  Serenus  Samnaticus,  who  was  the 
teacher  of  M.  Antonius  Africanus,  son  of  Gordianus 
the  Great,  when  he  died,  left  his  library,  consisting 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  19 

of  sixty-two  thousand  volumes,  to  his  student.  This 
was  in  236  A.D.  I  also  remembered  that  the  works 
of  Homer  were  more  than  five  hundred  years  older 
than  Christ,  and  that  we  had  the  laws  of  Shammai, 
Abtalian,  and  the  works  of  the  Hillels  all  before  us  ; 
and  if  Tischendorf,  in  the  convent  of  St.  Catherine, 
could  find  slips  and  pieces  of  the  Septuagint  that 
were  declared  at  Leipsic  to  be  of  the  fourth  century, 
I  thought  there  might  be  a  great  deal  more  some- 
where in  the  vast  libraries  in  those  old  countries 
that  have  thousands  of  years  the  advantage  of  Amer- 
ica. The  literati  could  all  tell  how  the  manuscripts 
of  the  Church  might  be,  and  were,  preserved  ;  but 
the  records  of  its  enemies,  even  the  records  of  courts 
and  crowns  they  could  not  see  into. 

Now  the  reader  must  remember  that  there  never 
was  anything  that  created  so  much  excitement  in 
the  land  of  Judea  as  the  preaching  of  John  the 
Baptist  and  Christ.  This  will  be  readily  understood 
if  we  take  into  consideration  the  structure  of  the 
Jewish  Commonwealth.  The  great  Sanhedrim 
legislated  for  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men ;  that  is, 
their  religion  and  their  politics  were  one  and  the 
same  thing.  In  the  capitulation  made  with  Augus- 
tus Caesar  it  was  understood  and  agreed  that  the  Jews 
were  to  pay  a  tax  to  the  Romans,  but  the  Romans 
were  not  to  interfere  with  the  Jewish  religion.  This 
took  the  executive  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Jews  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  This 
is  the  reason  Jesus  was  sent  to  Pilate  to  be  executed. 
The  Romans  had  to  carry  out  and  execute  the  deci- 


20  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

sions  of  the  Jewish  courts  on  all  Jewish  questions. 
This  is  the  reason  Herod  Antipas  was  tried  by 
the  Roman  Senate :  he  had  executed  John  the 
Baptist  without  a  trial.  Then  we  see  why  the  Jews 
and  Romans  worked  together  on  all  questions  of 
law ;  hence  the  great  excitement  of  both  nations. 
This  is  the  reason  why  Pilate  made  his  report  to 
Csesar. 

Now  I  say  no  event  creating  so  much  excitement 
could  take  place  without  more  or  less  record  being 
made  of  it ;  for  if  the  Scripture  is  true — and  I  be- 
lieve it  is — there  never  was  a  man  on  earth  who 
had  so  many  followers  in  so  short  a  time.  Caiaphas 
says  Jesus  had  been  preaching  three  years,  and  he 
then  had  more  followers  than^  Abraham.  This 
causes  me  to  say  again  that  if  the  New  Testament 
records  are  true,  then  the  historical  items  contained 
in  this  book  must  be  true  ;  and  if  these  items,  or 
items  like  them,  be  not  true,  then  the  items  of  the 
New  Testament  are  not  true  ;  that  is,  no  man  dare 
to  say  these  are  the  identical  items,  but  items  like 
these,  and  why  not  these?  They  came  from  the 
right  place.  The  parchments  and  scrolls  upon 
which  they  are  written  are  such  as  were  used  in 
those  days,  but  to  say  these  are  the  same  is  to  say 
what  no  man  dare  to  say.  The  time  has  been  too 
long  and  the  distance  to  the  place  where  the  records 
are  kept  is  too  great  for  all  men  to  make  the  exam- 
ination for  themselves,  hence  I  ask  all  to  consider 
this  question  fairly. 

Let  me  invite  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  21 

known  histories  in  this  country.  Dr.  Rashi,  D.D., 
•who  wrote  in  Paris  in  the  twelfth  century,  says  in 
Vol.  III.,  page  190,  that  in  the  formation  of  the 
ancient  libraries  there  were  men  appointed  called 
"  baalie  suphoths,"  which  means  "  book -compilers." 
The  business  of  these  men  was  to  take  the  sheets  of 
parchment  of  the  various  authors  and  pin  their  dates 
together,  bind  them  in  bundles  and  have  them  bound 
with  clasps  between  cedar  boards.  This  was  a  trade, 
and  it  required  the  best  of  scholars  to  do  it.  They 
were  called  baalie  suphoths.  We  find  that  the 
works  of  Philo  were  compiled  by  Pseudonymaus 
Joseph  Ben  Gorion,  A.D.  150.  This  Ben  Gorion 
was  a  Jewish  rabbi,  a  Pharisean  doctor.  Josephus 
was  compiled  by  Ekaba,  another  Jewish  doctor,  at 
the  close  of  the  second  century  ;  and  so  with  all  the 
historians  who  lived  near  the  Christian  era.  Jose- 
phus was  published  in  book-form  by  Havercamp,  in 
Amsterdam,  in  1729.  Now  all  he  had  to  guide  him 
was  what  Ben  Gorion  had  said.  So  it  is  with  Philo, 
which  was  put  in  book -form  by  Mangey,  in  London, 
in  1742  ;  all  he  had  was  what  Ekaba  had  pleased  to 
compile  of  his  works,  and,  as  there  was  deadly  hatred 
between  Jews  and  Christians  at  that  time,  it  is  most 
reasonable  to  believe  that  those  compilers  would 
leave  everything  out  that  would  favor  the  Chris- 
tians. It  was  to  their  own  interest  at  that  time  to 
bury  the  very  name  of  Christ  in  eternal  oblivion  ; 
and  this  is  the  reason  that  all  the  historians  who 
lived  and  wrote  in  those  days  are  made  to  say  so 
very  little  about  Christ  or  his  followers. 


22  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Now  in  looking  over  the  histories  we  find  com- 
paratively nothing  said  about  Jesus  Christ.  Such 
a  thing  could  not  be  if  the  New  Testament  is  true. 
No  man  could  make  me  believe  that  such  events 
occurred  as  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  without 
accounts  of  them  being  made  in  the  State  records 
and  by  the  public  writers  of  that  day.  Although  1 
have  had  this  thrown  in  my  face  so  often  by  in- 
fidels, I  never  saw  the  reason  till  I  commenced  this 
investigation  ;  and  if  any  man  will  take  the  pains 
to  examine  this  question  he  will  find  that  all  the 
sophers,  or  scribes,  were  Pharisees  ;  they  were  the 
doctors,  lawyers,  orators,  poets,  and  statesmen  of  the 
times.  The  Hillel  and  Shammai  schools  made  more 
scholars  than  all  the  world  besides  in  the  last  days- 
of  the  Jewish  Commonwealth.  Almost  every  nation 
under  the  sun  patronized  these  schools. 

Now,  being  satisfied  that  I  was  on  the  right  track^ 
the  next  thing  was  to  find  out  what  had  become  of 
the  original  manuscripts.  Had  Rothgad,  Haver- 
camp,  and  Mangey  destroyed  the  manuscripts  when 
they  were  done  with  them  ?  This  I  knew  could  not 
be,  from  the  fact  that  these  parchments  were  either  in 
the  hands  of  government  or  individual  libraries,  and 
they  could  not  destroy  them  or  take  them  away  ; 
and  I  knew  if  these  manuscripts  had  been  kept  till 
1754  they  must  be  in  existence  yet.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  there  were  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
volumes  of  manuscripts  presented  to  the  British 
Museum,  which  were  looked  upon  with  interest, 
and,  while  I  am  writing  this,  there  comes  to  my 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  23 

hand  a  dispatch  from  Vienna  to  the  London  Times. 
I  will  give  it  in  full,  as  I  think  it  will  be  beneficial 
to  the  reader.  The  dispatch  is  as  follows  : 

"Ancient  Manuscripts.  The  sifting  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  papyrus  collection  bought  by  Archduke 
Rainer  have  led  to  further  interesting  discoveries.  Of 
the  hieroglyphic,  hieratic,  demotic,  and  Coptic  papyri, 
about  twenty  date  from  the  pre-Christian  period. 
Among  these  is  one  nearly  three  thousand  years 
old,  in  the  hieratic  letter,  containing  the  representa- 
tion of  a  funeral,  with  a  well-preserved  sketch  of 
the  deceased,  some  hieroglyphic  legends,  and  a  de- 
motic papyrus  on  the  subject  of  mathematics.  Much 
more  numerous  are  the  Coptic  documents,  about 
one  thousand  in  all,  mostly  letters  and  legal  docu- 
ments of  the  period  from  the  sixth  to  the  tenth  cen- 
tury of  our  era.  There  are  some  important  papyri 
containing  translations  of  the  Bible  in  the  central 
Egyptian  dialect,  of  which  there  have  hitherto  been 
found  but  few  specimens  ;  and  a  leaf  of  parchment 
from  an  old  octavo  edition  of  the  book  of  Ruth,  in 
the  Sahidi  dialect. 

"  Among  the  Greek  papyri  is  a  hitherto  unknown 
speech  of  Isocrates,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
Alexandrian  caligraphy.  Another  fragment  has 
been  found  of  the  book  of  the  Thucydides  manu- 
script, previously  mentioned.  Portions,  also,  have 
been  discovered  of  the  Iliad,  and  a  paraphrase  of 
the  Fourth  Book.  Then  a  metanvia  has  been  found 
dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century. 


24  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

being  thus  one  of  the  oldest  Christian  manuscripts. 
The  collection  contains  many  well-preserved  docu- 
ments in  an  almost  continuous  series  of  the  Roman 
and  Byzantine  emperors,  beginning  with  Trajan  and 
ending  with  Heraclius. 

"  There  are  also  documents  in  the  Iranic  and  Se- 
mitic languages.  The  former  are  written  on  papy- 
rus, parchment,  and  skins,  and  among  them  are  two 
fragments  which,  it  is  believed,  will  furnish  the  key 
to  the  Pehlewi  language.  Among  the  Arab  papyri 
twenty-five  documents  have  been  found  with  the 
original  leaden  seals  attached.  They  begin  with  a 
fragment  of  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  the  Hegira. 
Another  is  an  official  document  of  the  nineteenth 
year  of  the  Hegira,  appointing  a  revenue  collector. 
Perhaps  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  collection  is 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five  Arabian  documents,  on 
cotton  paper,  of  the  eighth  century,  which  is  about 
the  time  of  the  invention  of  this  material  by  the 
Arabs,  to  the  year  953.  Many  thousands  of  manu- 
scripts have  still  to  be  deciphered." 

In  the  early  centuries  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
what  is  known  as  the  "  Apologetical  Writings."  I 
made  it  my  business  to  examine  these  writings,  and 
found  them  to  be  a  defence  of  Christianity.  The 
first  of  this  form  of  writing  was  presented  to  the 
Emperor  Adrian  by  Quadratus,  in  the  year  126 
A.D.  A  portion  of  this  we  find  in  Eusebius,  page 
93.  There  was  another  by  Aristides,  at  about  the 
same  time.  These  two  authors  are  found  only  in 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  25 

fragments,  preserved  by  other  historians,  and  their 
writings  are  mainly  pleas  for  clemency  for  those 
who  professed  Christianity  and  were  being  perse- 
cuted. 

Justin  Martyr  also  wrote  twice  on  this  subject — 
once  to  the  Roman  Senate  and  once  to  Antonius. 
These  were  published  in  English  by  W.  Reeves,  in 
1709,  at  Leipsic. 

Tertullian  wrote  two  volumes,  and  Vincentius 
wrote  a  commentary  on  them.  These  are  found  at 
Paris.  They  are  very  valuable  works — perhaps  the 
most  valuable  of  the  ancient  writings — from  the  fact, 
recorded  in  them,  that  the  Christians,  in  giving  rea- 
sons for  asking  favors,  refer  to  the  records  made  by 
the  Jews  and  Jewish  writers  as  well  as  the  reports 
of  the  Roman  officers  who  were  the  governors  of 
Judea  at  that  time ;  and  of  course  their  reference 
to  these  records  demonstrates  that  the  records  were 
there. 

In  Tertullian,  Vol.  II.,  page  29,  Vincentius  says 
the  Christians'  argument  was  based  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  Bible,  showing  that  the  God  of  the  Christians 
could  save,  and  referred  the  pagans  to  the  many  in- 
stances where  he  had  interposed  and  saved,  when 
none  but  a  God  like  the  Christians'  God  could  save. 
For,  said  they,  what  can  a  God  made  of  wood  or 
brass  do  in  time  of  danger?  They  had  no  power 
to  put  forth  and  exert  themselves  to  save.  Vincen- 
tius says  the  pagan  would  answer  that  these  images 
were  the  representations  of  their  gods  ;  that  these 
gods  of  wood  and  iron,  had  invisible  spirits  that  ex  • 


26  THE  A RCHKO  VOLUME. 

erted  as  much  power  as  the  God  of  the  Christians. 
Vincentius  says  he  did  not  see  much  difference  in 
their  doctrines  when  they  got  to  understand  each 
other. 

I  remember  that,  while  on  the  ship,  we  had  an 
Irish  priest  on  board,  and  in  conversation  one  day 
while  asking  him  about  many  things  in  the  Cath- 
olic Church  I  inquired  why  he  had  a  crucifix  hang- 
ing in  his  room.  Said  I,  "  You  do  not  think  there 
is  any  virtue  in  that  image  of  brass?"  "  No,"  said 
he,  "  no  more  than  there  was  in  the  serpent  of  brass 
that  Moses  made  and  placed  on  a  pole.  There  were 
no  healing  virtues  in  that  brass,  but  the  bitten  Is- 
realite  believed  in  the  command,  which  belief  or 
faith  controlled  his  action  and  produced  obedience ; 
hence  he  was  healed."  And  so,  he  said  in  this  case, 
he  no  more  believed  there  were  any  saving  qualities 
in  that  image  than  I  believe  my  mother's  picture 
could  be  to  me  a  mother. 

Let  the  reader  refer  to  the  first  centuries  and  mark 
what  a  disputation  there  was  in  the  ancient  church 
about  pictures.  May  we  not  flow  back  into  it? 
And  as  this  subject  of  picture-worship  created  so 
much  dissatisfaction  in  the  first  centuries  it  may  do 
so  again. 

While  investigating  this  question  I  found  that 
Arcadius,  the  eldest  son  of  Theodosius  the  Great, 
succeeded  his  father  to  the  throne  in  A.D.  395, 
and  divided  the  Roman  Empire  into  what  was 
known  in  that  day  as  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Empires. 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  27 

Arcadius  chose  the  Eastern  and  fixed  his  seat  of 
government  at  Constantinople,  and  made  his  brother 
Houorius  Emperor  of  the  Western,  fixing  his  seat 
of  government  at  Rome.  It  was  not  long  until  their 
jealously  was  kindled,  which  resulted  in  hatred  and 
terminated  in  a  war  which  finally  proved  their  over- 
throw. In  reading  the  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  pub- 
lished in  Edinburgh  in  twenty -four  octavo  volumes, 
in  Vol.  XII.,  page  114,  it  is  said  that  the  beginning 
of  this  war  was  on  account  of  Honorius  wishing  to 
have  his  young  princes  educated  at  Constantinople 
free  of  charge,  giving  as  his  reason  that  the  great 
library  there  had  once  belonged  to  Rome.  When 
his  brother  Arcadius  refused  he  tried  to  get  the 
library  divided,  and  Arcadius  refused  this  also. 
They  then  went  to  war,  and  while  the  two  brothers 
were  thus  engaged  Alaricus  engaged  the  Western 
Empire  and  overthrew  it.  In  hunting  through  this 
vast  library  of  books  I  found  what  was  called  the 
Homilies  of  Clementine ;  Vol.  XIII.,  page  194 ;  there 
were  the  Apochryphal  Gospels,  Acts  and  Revela- 
tions, with  all  the  writings  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers, 
including  the  laws  of  the  High  Priest,  the  laws  of 
the  Temple  service,  the  Records  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
giving  the  Jewish  laws  and  customs  for  hundreds 
of  years,  with  all  the  treaties  and  records  of  the 
courts. 

!Now  my  idea  was  that  if  these  records  were 
found  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican  at  Rome  and 
in  the  Seraglio  and  Atmedan  libraries  at  Constan- 
tinople and  Alexandria,  so  these  men  could  get 


28  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

them  nearly  three  hundred  years  ago,  why  are  they 
not  there  now  ? 

Dr.  Isaac  Wise,  who  is  President  of  the  Hebrew 
School  at  Cincinnati,  and,  by  the  way,  one  of  the 
best  Hebrew  scholars  in  America,  in  his  History  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Israel,  frequently  quotes  from 
the  Talmuds  and  Sanhedrim,  giving  reference  to  the 
various  circumstances,  and  often  gives  the  name  of 
the  scribe  who  did  the  writing  ;  and  so  I  find  these 
records  have  always  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Jewish 
rabbis,  and  you  need  not  tell  me  these  things  have 
been  only  produced  by  the  later  Jewish  nation,  for 
we  find  quotations  made  at  the  time  and  by  the  men 
who  lived  in  the  days  of  Christ.  Those  quotations 
correspond  with  other  history  we  have  of  the  same 
events,  and  the  only  difference  is  that  the  Jewish 
rabbis  put  a  different  construction  on  those  events 
from  what  the  Christians  do.  This  is  the  great 
difficulty,  after  all ;  like  a  celebrated  lawyer,  after 
reading  this  book,  told  his  friend  it  convinced  him 
of  the  truth  of  the  facts  in  the  Scriptures,  but  it  did 
not  convince  him  of  its  spiritual  definition.  This  is 
the  final  point  of  importance,  when  the  soul  is  lost 
or  saved — that  is,  to  take  the  facts  of  the  Scriptures 
and  yield  to  them  as  spiritual  truth.  Colens  the 
First,  who  was  an  Epicurean  philosopher,  wrote  a 
treatise  against  Christianity  and  was  answered  by 
Origen.  This  work  is  in  eight  volumes.  It  was 
published  in  Paris,  by  Vallart,  in  1746.  In  this 
work  the  disputants  appealed  alternately  to  these 
writings,  to  the  reports  made  by  the  Romans,  and 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  29 

show  clearly  that  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  doctrines, 
records  and  all,  were  then  in  possession  of  the 
Romans. 

Nero  refused  to  believe  in  these  things,  which  he 
might  have  done  if  he  had  taken  the  pains  to  look 
into  those  sacred  treasures  of  learning  that  were  on 
file  in  the  Senate  chamber ;  but  Origen  says  Nero  was 
only  moved  by  ambition,  with  the  love  of  destruc- 
tion before  his  eyes.  He  never  stopped  to  consider 
nor  consult  the  opinions  or  wishes  of  others.  Here, 
again,  I  found  an  unintentional  reference  to  these 
things.  Now  the  reader  must  remember  that  the 
records  were  there  at  that  time,  for  no  one  disputed 
the  fact ;  but  in  proving  the  unnecessary  hostility 
of  Nero,  Origen  makes  mention  of  these  other  facts, 
showing  the  records  to  be  in  the  city  of  Rome,  how 
they  came  there,  and  what  they  taught ;  that  is,  a  part 
of  these  records  were  brought  from  Jerusalem  and 
were  the  writings  of  the  Jews  and  the  Romans  who 
had  been  officers  in  the  Jewish  kingdom  by  Roman 
authority,  and  these  were  Roman  officers,  which 
made  them  a  part  of  and  responsible  to  the  Roman 
government.  Can  any  intelligent  man  believe  that 
these  men  would  have  been  allowed  to  transact  the- 
business  of  the  Romans  and  no  records  be  made  of 
it  in  the  archives  of  the  government  ?  Such  a  thing 
is  most  absurd.  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that 
government  among  the  Jews,  Greeks,  and  Romans 
was  much  more  strictly  administered  than  in  this 
country,  and  all  such  records  as  referred  to  the  ac- 
tions of  the  courts  and  the  government  officers  had 


30  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

to  be  preserved.  I  now  ask  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  the  investigation  of  the  preservation  of  the 
sacred  parchments  from  which  come  our  Bible. 

First,  to  the  works  of  Benjamin  Kennicott,  D.D., 
entitled  Veins  Testamentum,  published  in  England 
in  1780.  This  is  only  a  little  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  ago.  We  find  that  he  got  from  the 
Codex  of  Hillel  six  hundred  manuscripts.  When 
did  this  Hillel  live  ?  The  author  of  the  Codex  lived 
about  one  hundred  years  after  the  Christian  era. 
Dr.  Kennicott  also  got  sixteen  manuscripts  from 
the  Samaritan  Pentateuch.  Then  I  ask  attention 
to  John  G.  Rosenmueller,  of  1736,  at  Leipsic,  to 
his  Librarium,  five  volumes,  also  his  Scholia  Testa- 
ment, all  from  manuscript.  Then  to  Brian  Walton, 
D.D.,  born  at  Yorkshire  in  1600,  who  published  his 
polyglot  Bible  from  manuscript  (Hebrew).  Be- 
cause these  are  given  to  us  by  great  men,  and  they 
suit  our  notions,  they  are  never  doubted  ;  and  it  is 
too  apt  to  be  the  case  in  our  ad  captandum,  we  are 
not  likely  to  investigate  as  closely  as  we  should. 
And,  again,  we  are  apt  to  be  more  inclined  to  in- 
vestigate those  things  that  are  suited  to  our  tastes 
and  interests ;  but  while  certain  things  are  interest- 
ing to  us  we  should  never  forget  that  there  are  other 
things  equally  interesting  to  others  ;  and  while  we 
may  be  interested  only  in  the  sacred  histories  that 
make  for  our  peace,  and  although  the  testimony  of 
our  enemies  may  not  be  very  pleasant  to  hear,  we 
should  remember  that  the  salvation  of  others  may 
depend  on  such  testimony. 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  31 

We  should  not  be  opposed  to  any  evidence  that 
may  give  strength  to  any  subject  and  thereby  re- 
dound to  good  in  a  general  way,  specially  if  this 
evidence  does  not  have  a  tendency  to  weaken  our 
faith.  It  is  so  with  this  book  ;  it  cannot  weaken 
the  faith  of  the  Christian  who  has  believed  without 
foreign  testimony,  but  brings  strong  corroborative 
testimony  to  enable  others  who  are  less  credulous 
than  we  to  believe.  Hence  in  the  examination  of  the 
various  versions  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  dug  up  out  of  the  old  manuscripts, 
from  the  rubbish  of  the  ancient  world,  difficulties 
are  encountered,  and  others  may  not  believe  as 
readily  as  we  do.  Duranzo,  a  Greek  historian,  who 
wrote  thirty-six  volumes  in  Constantinople  at  the 
close  of  the  seventh  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century,  in  referring  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city 
and  nation,  says,  in  Vol.  XIII.,  page  54,  that  Con- 
stantinople enjoyed  educational  advantages  over  all 
other  cities,  and  that  this  was  due,  to  some  extent, 
to  the  fact  that  the  Christians,  under  the  instructions 
of  their  Emperor,  had  gathered  and  brought  there 
literature  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  it  was 
the  great  seat  of  learning  of  the  world.  On  page 
128  he  refers  to  a  war  that  was  carried  on  about 
the  great  library  that  had  been  brought  there  by 
the  Roman  Emperor  when  he  embraced  Christianity. 
Again  he  says,  that  when  Mohammed  locked  up 
the  great  library  he  excluded  the  learned  and  with 
them  the  wealth  of  the  city.  In  Vol.  XIV.,  page 
17,  in  speaking  of  the  battle  of  Tanze,  he  says  it 


32  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

was  fought  over  the  sacred  books  that  had  been 
deposited  there  by  the  ancient  Christians.  From 
these  indirect  references  I  discovered  there  must 
be  great  deposits  of  sacred  literature  in  these  old 
libraries.  These  histories  are  in  the  Paris  library 
for  the  inspection  of  anyone. 

Notwithstanding  the  art  of  printing  has  a  ten- 
dency to  do  away  with  and  supersede  the  written 
Scriptures,  yet  there  are  many  valuable  manuscripts 
in  existence,  some  of  which  are  of  great  value  in 
the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures. 

First,  the  Hebrew  manuscripts.  These  are  either 
rolls  designed  for  the  use  of  synagogues,  or  square 
manuscripts,  designed  for  private  use.  The  former 
are  all  on  parchment  and  written  with  the  greatest 
care  and  accuracy.  The  others  are  written  on  vellum 
or  paper. 

Dr.  Kennicott  says  all  that  are  now  to  be  had 
were  written  between  the  tenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies. Of  course  these  were  written  from  the  origi- 
nals ;  how  often  they  have  been  rewritten  in  four- 
teen hundred  years  we  cannot  say,  but  we  know 
there  are  many  opportunities  for  change.  These 
manuscripts  have  been  collated  by  Dr.  Kennicott 
and  De  Rossi,  and  amount  to  1135  ;  but  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  as  the  Jewish  rabbis  did  this 
work  they  may  have  left  out  many  things  that  ap- 
peared to  them  contrary. 

The  next  are  the  Greek.  Of  these  manuscripts 
immense  numbers  still  exist.  Dr.  Holmes  has  col- 
lected 135.  Some  of  these  are  preserved  from  the 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  33 

fourth  century.  Of  course,  these  are  not  the  records 
that  were  made  when  the  events  they  record  took 
place. 

Now,  reader,  our  present  Bible  comes  from  these 
manuscripts.  The  first  English  Bible  was  pub- 
lished by  J.  Wickliffe  in  1360,  just  ninety  years 
before  printing  was  invented.  The  first  Bible 
printed  in  our  language  was  by  William  Tindall, 
assisted  by  Miles  Coverdale,  in  1526.  When  Tindall 
was  executed  for  heresy  by  the  Catholics,  his  works 
were  continued  by  Coverdale  and  John  Rogers. 
This  book  was  suppressed  time  and  again,  and 
reprinted  by  different  parties  until  it  went  through 
twenty-two  different  editions.  The  last  was  that 
which  proceeded  from  the  Hampton  Court  confer- 
ence in  1603.  There  were  so  many  errors  in  the 
Bishop's  Bible  that  King  James's  Bible  was  put  on 
foot  and  printed  in  1611. 

Now  suppose  we  consider  the  many  Bibles  pub- 
lished by  different  sects,  nations,  and  individuals,  and 
all  coming  from  these  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin 
manuscripts.  The  reader  must  know  that  the  manu- 
scripts have  gone  through  many  hands.  This  we 
know  from  the  fact  that  we  find  Bible  manuscripts 
still  in  existence,  and  from  these  we  find  Greek 
manuscripts,  Samaritan  manuscripts  taken  from  the 
Hebrew,  the  Spanish  manuscripts,  the  German  manu- 
scripts, the  Italian  manuscripts,  and  many  others. 
The  reader  is  referred  to  the  Bodleian  Library  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  to  the  libraries  at  Leyden, 
Paris,  and  Rome.  We  also  have  some  in  America, 
3 


34  THE  ARCHKO   VOLUME. 

at  Philadelphia,  in  the  libraries  of  the  Quakers  and 
in  the  library  of  the  Antiquarian  Society. 

The  manuscripts  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  were  com- 
piled in  the  second  century.  But  they  never  were 
translated  till  A.D.  607,  by  Bishop  Adhelm,  under 
the  direction  of  King  Alfred.  There  were  a  number 
of  parts  of  these  Hebrew  manuscripts  translated 
in  the  second  century  in  the  Arabic  language.  It 
was  printed  for  the  Propaganda  at  Rome,  in  1671, 
in  three  volumes.  The  Armenian  version  was  made 
in  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era  by  Miesrob 
and  Isaac,  and  printed  at  Amsterdam  by  Uskin,  an 
Armenian  bishop,  who  was  charged  by  his  enemies 
with  following  the  Vulgate.  It  was  printed  at  Con- 
stantinople in  1705  ;  at  Venice  in  1805.  The  Coptic 
New  Testament  was  published  by  Wilkins  at  Ox- 
ford, 1716. 

The  Vulgate  is  an  ancient  manuscript,  taken  from 
the  Hebrew  and  translated  into  the  Latin  in  the 
second  century ;  also  one  of  the  Greek  and  one  of 
the  Syriac.  These  are  all  of  the  same  date.  This 
Vulgate  in  the  Latin  was  used  in  Africa.  The 
Church  at  Rome  was  under  Greek  control  at  this 
time  and  rejected  the  Latin  Vulgate,  and  used  what 
was  called  at  that  time  the  Vedus  Latina,  or  old 
Latin.  This  is  the  history  of  Tertullian,  Vol.  I., 
page  202. 

In  the  fourth  century  Jerome  tells  us  there  was 
another  translation  of  the  Vulgate,  under  the  in- 
struction of  St.  Augustine,  and  St.  Jerome  recom- 
mends this  in  the  highest  terms.  About  the  fifth 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  35 

century  there  was  another  translation  made,  which 
is  called  the  Codex,  in  the  Latin  language.  There 
was  one  at  Alexandria,  one  in  the  Vatican,  and  one 
at  Sinai.  Parts  of  these  are  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum.  They  were  presented  to  King  Charles  by 
Cyril  Lucar,  who  was  patriarch  at  Constantinople 
and  had  been  patriarch  at  Alexandria,  and  brought 
these  books  with  him.  The  Codex  of  Sinai  is  in  the 
Greek,  and  is  the  same  that  Dr.  Tischendorf  found 
and  was  declared  by  the  scholars  of  Leipsic  to  have 
been  written  in  the  fourth  century. 

In  the  year  748  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  330  of 
the  Christian  era  Constantino  the  Great  removed 
his  seat  of  empire  from  Rome  to  Byzantium,  and 
took  with  him  all  the  records  of  the  Christians  to 
that  city,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  letter  from  him  in 
this  book  in  regard  to  having  the  Holy  Scriptures 
in  manuscript,  and  having  fifty  volumes  bound  and 
kept  on  deposit.  When  Mohammed  took  possession 
of  Constantinople  he  had  too  much  respect  for 
these  sacred  scrolls  to  let  them  be  destroyed,  but 
had  them  all  nicely  cased  and  deposited  in  the  St. 
Sophia  Mosque.  History  informs  us  of  the  dreadful 
struggle  that  took  place  between  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  over  the  sacred  parchments  in  the  days  of 
the  Crusades ;  and  it  seems  to  us  that  Divine 
Providence  has  had  something  to  do  with  the 
preservation  of  these  sacred  writings.  These  scrolls 
look  more  like  rolls  of  narrow  carpet  wound  round 
a  windlass  than  anything  else.  But  as  I  have  de- 


36  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

scribed  them  elsewhere  I  will  not  attempt  a  further 
description  here. 

Another  question  arises  in  the  mind  of  the  reader, 
and  that  is  :  How  was  it  possible  for  these  writings 
to  be  preserved  so  long  ?  I  answer  that  there  are 
many  works  much  older  than  these  in  existence. 
Homer  is  900  years  older.  Why  not  these  ?  Another 
reason  why  these  writings  have  not  been  brought 
before  the  world  is  that  no  man  has  searched  for 
these  chronicles  as  I  have  done.  After  getting  hold 
of  Acta  Pilati  as  I  did,  accidentally,  I  made  the 
investigation  of  these  questions  my  special  business 
for  ten  years — corresponding  with  many  historians 
and  scholars,  sending  for  all  the  books  that  could 
instruct  me  on  these  great  questions,  engaging  two 
expert  scholars,  Drs.  Mclntosh,  of  Scotland,  and 
Twyman,  of  England,  and  going  to  the  city  of  Rome, 
paying  our  way  through  the  Vatican,  and  then  to 
Constantinople,  where  we  examined  those  ancient 
records,  sparing  neither  time  nor  expense  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  them.  Then  it  may  be  asked  again  : 
May  not  I  be  deceived  ?  May  not  these  men  have 
imposed  upon  me  ?  To  this  I  would  say  :  That  is 
impossible.  Then  it  might  be  argued :  Might  not 
these  writings  have  been  manufactured  to  make 
money  out  of  ?  If  so,  it  was  a  poor  business,  for  this 
is  the  first  and  only  book  ever  produced  from  them. 
It  certainly  was  a  bad  speculation  on  their  part. 
But  one  says:  Did  not  Gregory  IX.  burn  twenty 
cartloads  of  these  Talmuds?  Who  says  so  but  a 
Jewish  rabbi  ?  If  he  did,  they  were  the  Talmuds 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  37 

of  Babylon,  and  not  those  of  Jerusalem  ?  There 
is  no  body  of  Christians  stronger  adherents  of  Jesus 
Christ  than  the  Koman  Catholics.  Why  should 
they  want  to  burn  the  Talmuds  of  Jerusalem,  which 
were  so  full  of  the  doctrines  and  historical  events 
that  are  so  near  and  dear  to  them  ?  No  man  can 
go  into  the  Vatican  library  without  a  guard  over 
him,  who  watches  him  closely,  so  that  he  cannot 
move  a  leaf  or  change  a  word  or  letter  of  anything 
that  is  there.  If  they  will  not  consent  to  even  the 
slightest  change,  it  is  not  probable  they  would  burn 
their  works.  Men  from  all  over  the  world  are  there. 
Often  when  we  crossed  the  Tiber,  before  it  was 
fairly  light,  there  were  a  thousand  strangers  between 
us  and  St.  Peter's  gate,  waiting  to  be  admitted  at 
the  opening  of  the  gate  that  leads  into  the  Vatican. 

One  more  evidence  to  the  reader  :  There  are  at 
least  five  hundred  quotations  made  from  the  Sanhe- 
drim and  Talmuds  of  the  Jews  by  men  who  have 
denied  their  existence.  Now  I  call  attention  to  his- 
tory, and  I  will  give  the  name  and  page,  so  that  all 
can  read  for  themselves. 

First :  Rabbi  Akiba,  a  reformed  Jewish  priest, 
Vol.  I.,  page  22,  quotes  from  Celsus,  an  enemy  of 
the  Church.  He  says  there  was  a  dreadful  earth- 
quake at  the  time  Jesus  was  crucified,  and  that  the 
mist  that  arose  from  it  covered  the  earth  for  three 
hours.  On  page  28  he  says  that  Jesus  was  the  son 
of  Mary  ;  that  he  was  the  founder  of  the  sect  called 
Christians.  On  page  48  he  says  Jesus  was  crucified 
on  the  eve  of  the  Passover.  He  gives  extracts  from 


38  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

the  apostles,  and  never  denies  in  a  single  instance, 
but  admits  their  genuineness.  He  quotes  the  books, 
and  makes  extracts  from  the  names  they  bear.  He 
makes  particular  mention  of  his  incarnation,  of  his 
being  born  of  a  virgin,  of  his  being  worshipped  by 
the  Magi ;  of  his  flight  into  Egypt ;  of  the  massacre 
of  the  infants  of  Bethlehem.  On  page  52  he  speaks 
of  his  baptism  by  John  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  and  of  the  voice  that 
was  heard  out  of  heaven.  He  speaks  of  the  mira- 
cles done  by  Jesus,  and  never  doubts  the  facts  in 
any  instance,  but  attributes  them  to  the  art  of 
necromancy  he  had  learned  in  Egypt.  But  did 
the  reader  ever  hear  of  a  thaumaturgist  producing 
a  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  or  causing  voices  to 
be  heard  from  the  heavens?  Such  absurdities  are 
not  spoken  of  except  when  they  are  urged  against 
the  Christian  religion. 

Aretas,  one  of  the  kings  of  Arabia,  who  was  a 
philosopher  as  well  as  a  king,  in  speaking  of  the 
laws  of  nature  (Vol.  VII.,  page  14),  says  that  Jesus 
of  Judea  was  a  philosopher  above  the  laws  of  na- 
ture ;  that  he  controlled  all  the  elements  of  nature 
with  almighty  power ;  that  the  winds,  thunders,  and 
lightnings  obeyed  him  ;  and  speaks  of  these  facts  as 
being  so  common  that  it  would  be  folly  to  dispute 
them. 

Justin  says,  in  Vol.  II.,  page  42,  that  the  several 
Roman  governors  in  their  respective  provinces  made 
reports  of  the  important  events  that  occurred  in  their 
jurisdiction,  and  they  were  spread  on  the  senatorial 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  39 

dockets  at  Rome.  We  find  in  this  same  work,  page 
128,  that  he  appealed  to  Antoninus  and  the  Senate 
for  clemency  for  the  Christians,  and  after  referring 
to  their  many  virtues,  and  to  Christ  as  their  leader, 
added  :  "  And  that  these  things  are  so,  I  refer  you 
to  the  records  of  the  Senate  made  by  Pontius  Pilate 
and  others  in  his  day."  The  learned  Tertullian,  in 
his  Apology  for  Christianity,  about  the  year  200, 
after  speaking  of  our  Saviour's  Crucifixion  and 
Resurrection,  and  his  appearance  to  the  disciples, 
and  ascension  into  heaven  in  the  sight  of  the  same 
disciples,  who  were  ordained  by  him  to  spread  the 
gospel  over  the  world,  thus  proceeds  :  "  Of  all  these 
things  relating  to  Christ,  Pilate  himself,  in  his  con 
science  already  a  Christian,  sent  an  account  to  Tibe- 
rius, then  Emperor."  The  same  writer  in  the  same 
apology  thus  relates  the  proceedings  of  Tiberius  on 
receiving  this  information  :  "  There  was  an  ancient 
decree  that  no  one  should  be  received  for  a  deity 
unless  he  was  first  approved  by  the  Senate.  Tibe- 
rius, in  whose  time  the  Christian  name  (or  religion) 
had  its  rise,  having  received  from  Palestine,  in  Syria, 
an  account  of  such  things  as  confirmed  the  truth  of 
his  (Christ's)  divinity,  proposed  to  the  Senate  that 
he  should  be  enrolled  among  the  Roman  gods,  and 
gave  his  own  prerogative  vote  in  favor  of  the  mo- 
tion ;  but  the  Senate,  without  whose  consent  no  deifi- 
cation could  take  place,  rejected  it  because  the 
Emperor  himself  had  declined  the  same  honor. 
Nevertheless,  the  Emperor  persisted  in  his  opinion, 
and  threatened  punishment  to  the  accusers  of  the 


40  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Christians."  Search  your  own  commentaries  (or  pub- 
lic writings),  you  will  there  find  that  Nero  was  the 
first  who  raged  with  the  imperial  sword  against  this 
sect,  then  rising  most  at  Rome  (Horn's  Introduction, 
Vol.  I.,  page  82). 

~Now,  I  would  ask,  if  there  were  no  such  records 
there,  would  these  men  have  made  such  appeals  ? 
And  if  they  were  there,  could  such  things  be  forged 
and  palmed  off  on  the  Roman  Senate  ?  It  seems 
to  me  to  ask  the  question  is  enough.  Now,  if  any 
man  will  trace  out  these  things  he  will  find  that  I 
have  as  much  reason  for  believing  the  genuineness 
of  the  contents  of  this  book,  as  I  have  to  believe  the 
genuineness  of  the  Scriptures,  looking  at  the  question 
from  a  human  standpoint.  First,  you  must  know 
that  the  manuscript  from  which  this  book  was  taken 
has  not  gone  through  so  many  translations  nor  been 
put  in  so  many  different  languages,  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  not  to  be  found  in  another  language  ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, there  was  no  necessity  for  it,  and  as  to  this 
being  forged  there  was  no  occasion  for  that,  from 
the  fact  it  favors  no  religious  denomination,  it  ad- 
vocates the  tenets  of  no  religious  sect.  Now  I  am 
convinced  there  was  such  a  man  as  Herod  Anti- 
pater,  and  I  know  that  he  could  not  kill  all  the 
male  children  in  a  city  without  giving  reasons  for 
it,  and  there  must  have  been  more  or  less  record 
made  of  it.  I  am  convinced  there  was  such  a  man 
as  Herod  Antipas,  and  I  know  he  dare  not  behead 
such  a  man  as  John  the  Baptist  is  represented  to 
be,  without  a  trial,  without  having  to  account  to 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  41 

some  court.  I  know  that  Pilate  was  a  Roman 
officer,  and  his  actions  were  watched  closely  and 
all  his  public  acts  had  to  be  recorded  upon  the 
Roman  dockets. 

I  do  not  see  why  these  records  should  have  been 
destroyed.  I  am  convinced  the  Jews  at  that  day 
were  looking  for  a  Redeemer,  and  when  the  great 
excitement  was  reported  at  Bethlehem  it  would  be 
not  unreasonable  that  the  Jews  should  make  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  matter ;  and,  again,  I  know  if  the 
Scriptures  are  true  Mary  was  subject  to  the  death- 
penalty  unless  she  could  satisfactorily  prove  her  inno- 
cence. I  was  convinced  the  Jews  must  have  looked 
into  this  matter,  and  that  it  would  be  found  recorded 
somewhere.  I  knew  that  if  there  were  such  a  man 
as  they  represented  Jesus  to  be,  he  could  not  be  tried 
in  the  high  priest's  court  and  condemned  to  death, 
and  executed  by  the  Roman  authorities,  unless  there 
were  some  record  made  of  it  by  both  the  Jews  and 
Romans.  Here  we  have  the  whole  of  these  records, 
and  why  are  they  not  true  ?  They  comport  with 
the  Bible  ;  they  are  just  the  records  we  should  ex- 
pect from  the  Scriptures  ;  they  were  made  or  dated 
at  the  right  time  ;  they  came  from  the  place  where 
these  records  were  made  ;  they  were  written  in  the 
same  language  that  was  used  at  that  time.  Now, 
if  all  this  is  so,  why  are  they  not  true  ? 

I  offer  this  book  to  the  public  feeling  assured  it 
can  do  no  harm  to  anyone  or  to  any  church,  but 
that  it  will  be  read  by  thousands  with  great  inter- 
est, and  will  convince  the  infidel  of  the  truth  of  the 


42  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Scriptures.  As  Dr.  Miller  observed  :  "  This  book 
never  was  needed  until  now,  and  it  is  like  all 
God's  providences,  always  brought  out  at  the  right 
time."  Another  minister  wrote  to  say  he  "  was  more 
than  delighted  ;"  it  was  like  calling  up  the  dead  ; 
all  the  circumstances  of  Calvary  were  brought 
vividly  before  him,  and  when  he  rsad  Caiaphas's 
second  report  he  both  wept  and  rejoiced.  Such  is 
the  testimony  of  almost  everyone  who  reads  it. 

In  an  extract  from  a  private  letter  to  the  Bruns- 
wicker  Dr.  Rubin  says  : 

"  I  saw,  while  in  the  Vatican  at  Rome  last  week, 
Dr.  W.  D.  Mahan,  of  Boonville,  Mo.,  Drs.  Mcln- 
tosh  and  Twyman,  of  Scotland,  with  a  number  of 
clerks,  both  readers  and  scribes,  going  through  these 
old  manuscripts  and  scrolls  that  have  been  lying 
there  for  hundreds,  yea,  thousands  of  years  ;  they 
seem  to  be  men  of  great  age  and  learning,  and  well 
qualified  for  their  business.  They  were  going  next 
week  to  Constantinople  to  go  through  the  records 
of  the  Sanhedrim  and  the  ancient  Talmuds  of  the 
Jews.  Their  object  is  to  bring  out  a  new  book  as  a 
supplement  to  Ada  Pilati.  I  am  satisfied,  from  the 
character  of  the  men  and  the  nature  of  the  book,  it 
will  prove  to  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  books 
ever  presented  to  the  Christian  world,  from  the  fact 
that  all  the  works  on  archaeology  have  been  written 
in  such  a  style  that  but  very  few  could  read  and 
understand  them." 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  43 

CONSTANTINOPLE,  TURKEY,  October  16,  1883. 

To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

DEAR  FRIENDS  :  I  take  pleasure  in  addressing 
you  this  letter,  as  I  feel  assured  I  am  doing  a  good 
work  for  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  Then, 
friends,  permit  me  to  say  to  you  that  I  was  intro- 
duced to  my  friend,  W.  D.  Mahan,  of  Boonville, 
Mo.,  by  my  friends  of  Leipsic,  Germany.  I  en- 
gaged to  meet  him  in  Paris,  France,  and  when  he 
showed  me  his  plans  and  the  subjects  that  he 
wanted,  and  showed  me  his  notes  of  reference,  the 
names  of  others,  and  books  that  he  had  been  hunt- 
ing for  ten  years,  I  became  satisfied  that  if  we  could 
succeed  he  would  bring  out  one  of  the  best  books 
ever  oSered  to  the  Christian  world  except  the  Bible. 
We  repaired  to  the  Vatican  at  Rome,  received  per- 
mission to  examine  the  greatest  library  in  the  world, 
and  to  my  astonishment  the  first  thing  we  called  for 
was  brought  to  hand  in  a  short  time.  I  mean 
Pilate's  reports,  which  were  more  than  satisfactory. 
The  next  were  the  Senate's  records  respecting  the 
investigation  of  Herod  Antipater's  conduct  at  Beth- 
lehem, and  Herod  Antipas  on  various  charges  (one 
of  which  was  the  execution  of  John  the  Baptist), 
the  Hillel  letters,  and  the  Shammai  laws.  We  then 
proceeded  to  Constantinople  and  went  through  the 
records  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  Talmuds  of  the  Jews 
that  were  carried  there  and  preserved  by  Constan- 
tine  in  the  year  337.  Here  we  found  Melker's 
letter  (who  was  priest  at  Bethlehem  at  the  time 


44  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  born)  in  respect  to  the 
prophecy  concerning  the  birth  of  Jesus,  which  is 
very  deep  and  profound.  Next  we  came  upon  the 
report  of  Gamaliel,  who  was  sent  by  the  Sanhedrim 
to  interrogate  Joseph  and  Mary  concerning  the 
child  Jesus,  which  will  prove  to  be  one  of  the  most 
interesting  subjects  that  was  ever  read  by  man. 
Then  the  next  thing  we  found  was  the  report  of 
Caiaphas  to  the  Sanhedrim.  When  read  it  will 
awaken  the  minds  of  men  and  give  a  very  different 
view  of  this  matter  to  what  we  have  had. 

After  we  had  finished  the  report,  Brother  Mahan 
insisted  that  we  should  unwind  the  scroll  further, 
and  in  doing  so  we  found  his  second  report,  which 
caused  us  to  weep  like  children,  and  we  both  thanked 
God  that  we  continued  the  search.  We  also  found 
many  strange  historical  items,  such  as  will  be  of 
great  interest  to  the  world  at  this  time.  And  as 
Brother  Mahan  is  going  to  publish  his  book  in 
America,  I  can  most  heartily  recommend  it. 

M.    MclNTOSH. 

MARKET  PLACE,  CITY  OF  HOME,  ITALY. 
DEAR  WIFE:  It  seems  long  since  I  left  home, 
but  God  is  here  as  well  as  in  America,  and  it  is 
my  chief  delight  to  report  you  and  the  children  to 
his  throne  of  mercy  daily.  I  was  landed  at  Mar- 
seilles, France,  after  twelve  days  out  from  New  York. 
We  had  a  splendid  trip,  all  but  the  first  two  days. 
We  left  New  York  in  a  gale,  and  I"  must  confess 
I  was  very  much  alarmed ;  it  seemed  to  me  the 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  45 

water  was  much  higher  all  around  us  than  where 
the  ship  was.  That  made  it  more  frightful,  for  it 
looked  as  if  the  ship  sunk  or  was  sinking  for  the  first 
two  days.  She  was  sometimes  on  her  end,  then  on 
her  side,  and  then  would  seem  to  turn  almost  over ; 
but  every  tilt  she  made  I  prayed  St.  Peter's  prayer. 
I  think  I  did  more  praying  the  first  two  days  than  I 
had  done  in  two  years.  But  the  second  day  I  be- 
gan to  cast  up  my  accounts,  not  with  my  Maker,  nor 
with  my  creditors,  but  with  my  stomach.  I  was 
awful  sick. 

Captain  Stikes  said  the  storm  in  starting  out  made 
it  much  worse  on  us  than  it  would  have  been  if  the 
weather  had  been  clear  and  calm,  but  the  third  day 
the  sea  began  to  calm,  and  so  did  my  stomach.  I 
was  able  to  go  out  in  the  evening,  but  we  were  still 
going  up  hill ;  we  had  no  further  trouble  all  the 
way,  but  after  three  or  four  days  it  looked  as  if  I 
would  never  get  enough  to  eat.  Our  fare  was 
poor,  much  more  so  than  on  the  English  line ; 
so  I  was  told  by  men  that  had  travelled  both 
lines.  I  shall  return  by  another  route.  I  met 
Dr.  Mclntosh  at  St.  Elgin  waiting  for  me.  He  is 
one  of  the  nicest  old  men  and  one  of  the  finest 
scholars  I  ever  met.  I  feel  ashamed  in  his  presence, 
though  he  is  so  grand  and  noble  he  can  hide  my 
own  defects  from  me  better  than  I  can  myself.  He 
was  very  much  surprised  when  I  showed  him  my 
notes  of  reference.  He  did  not  see  how  I  could  get 
hold  of  these  things  so  far  away.  We  found  Dr. 
Twyman  and  his  men  at  the  Vatican,  and  we  are 


46  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

working  bravely.  The  very  first  thing  the  guard 
brought  was  A  eta  Palati ;  the  Doctor  was  delighted 
when  he  saw  it.  We  have  two  guards ;  one  brings 
the  articles  as  we  call  for  them ;  the  other  sits  and 
watches  to  see  that  the  books  and  parchments  are  not 
mutilated.  To-day  was  the  day  of  the  Pope's  holy 
auditory.  We  were  taken  in  by  the  guard,  and  I 
must  confess  I  never  had  such  feelings  in  all  my  life. 
The  room  is,  I  suppose,  three  hundred  feet  or  more 
square ;  there  must  have  been  ten  or  twelve  hun- 
dred in  the  congregation,  all  men,  mostly  priests 
and  officers.  The  Pope  is  a  venerable  old  man.  I 
saw  nothing  different  in  his  dress  from  any  other 
priest ;  nothing  gaudy  about  him.  He  sang  the  mass 
in  the  pure  old  Latin  language  ;  his  voice  was  clear 
and  sweet.  After  he  was  through  quite  a  number 
of  the  priests  came  and  knelt  at  his  feet.  He  laid 
his  hands  gently  on  each  of  their  heads  and  pro- 
nounced a  blessing,  but  they  did  not  kiss  his  great 
toe.  I  never  saw  as  solemn  a  congregation  in 
my  life ;  in  fact,  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  man 
to  be  otherwise  in  that  room.  The  dome  of  this 
room  surpasses  all  the  sights  my  eyes  ever  beheld ; 
it  contains  hundreds  of  windows  in  the  form  of 
eyes  with  golden  lids  and  lashes,  all  emitting 
rays  of  light  of  various  colors.  They  seemed  so 
natural  I  thought  I  could  almost  see  them  wink. 
They  are  to  represent  the  all-seeing  eye.  These 
eyes  are  the  light  of  the  room.  The  scene  of  mag- 
nificence beggars  description.  There  are  too  many 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  47 

things  to  be  described.  A  man  will  have  a  higher 
appreciation  of  the  Catholic  Church,  where  he  sees 
her  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  this  great  church,  and  I 
shall  ever  have  a  different  feeling  toward  them  from 
what  I  have  had.  We  have  all  the  text-books  we 
need,  Buxtorf,  Gesenius,  Laportees,  and  others.  We 
will  get  through  in  the  Vatican  in  a  few  days.  We 
will  leave  Dr.  Twyman  and  three  clerks  here,  as  we 
find  the  Hillelite  letters  and  Shemiate  and  Abta- 
lian  laws  here  in  book-form.  They  will  translate 
such  parts  of  them,  as  we  want  and  send  them  to 
me  ;  they  will  come  in  a  roll.  If  they  come  before 
I  get  home,  take  special  care  of  them.  Dr.  Mcln- 
tosh  and  I,  with  one  clerk,  will  go  to  Constantinople 
in  a  day  or  two.  The  Doctor  has  been  there,  and 
he  thinks  he  will  find  all  that  I  want  in  the  St.  So- 
phia Library.  He  says  the  twenty  cartloads  of 
Talmuds  that  history  tells  us  were  burned  by 
Gregory  IX.  were  the  Talmuds  of  Babylon,  but  the 
Talmuds  of  Jerusalem  are  all  safe,  and  so  are  the 
records  of  the  Jerusalem  Sanhedrim  ;  that  these 
documents  were  carried  there  by  Constantine.  If 
so,  that  is  all  I  want.  The  Doctor  thinks  it  will 
be  one  of  the  most  important  books  ever  brought 
before  the  public,  except  the  Bible,  as  it  would  give 
the  pros  and  cons  of  the  outside  world  at  that  time. 
But  I  have  so  many  things  I  would  like  to  say  and 
it  is  now  after  1  o'clock  A.M.  As  to  home  affairs, 
I  am  too  far  off  to  say  anything  more,  besides  I 
have  all  confidence  in  your  judgment.  I  think  now 
that  I  will  be  at  home  by  the  10th  or  loth  of  De- 


48  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

cember,  and  I  shall  write  no  more  unless  something 
happens.     May  God  bless  you  ;  farewell. 

W.  D.  MAHAN. 

COLUMBIA,  Mo.,  January  25, 1887. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  am  well  acquainted  with 
the  Rev.  W.  D.  Mahan,  of  Boonville,  Mo.  I  have 
known  him  well  for  a  number  of  years,  having  spent 
several  months  at  his  house  at  different  times.  I 
was  at  his  house  in  Boonville,  Mo.,  shortly  after 
his  return  (as  he  then  stated  to  me)  from  Rome  and 
Constantinople.  I  gave  him  some  assistance  in  re- 
copying  some  of  his  manuscripts  for  his  book.  I 
saw,  examined,  and  to  some  extent  assisted  in  ar- 
ranging the  various  subjects  and  chapters  in  his 
book. 

Judging  from  the  handwriting  of  said  manu- 
scripts, there  must  have  been  two  or  more  persons 
engaged  in  writing  them,  as  there  was  a  distinct 
difference  in  the  handwriting.  I  was  impressed  at 
the  time  with  the  belief,  from  the  writing  and 
spelling,  that  the  parties  were  of  foreign  birth  and 
education. 

I  have  no  interest  in  this  matter,  and  make  the 
above  statement  at  the  request  and  in  justice  to  the 
Rev.  W.  D.  Mahan,  as  an  old  and  valued  friend. 

J.  B.  DOUGLASS. 

Personally  appeared  before  me,  a  notary  public, 
within  and  for  the  county  of  Boone,  and  State  of 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  49 

Missouri,  General  J.  B.  Douglass,  to  me  well  known, 
and  made  affidavit  to  the  foregoing  certificate. 

Witness  my  hand  and  notarial  seal  hereto  affixed 
at  Columbia,  Mo.,  this  25th  day  of  January  A.D. 
1887. 

FRANK  D.  EVANS, 

Notary  Public. 

State  of  Missouri,  County  of  Cooper,  ss. 

Be  it  known  that  on  this,  the  12th  day  of  Janu- 
ary, A.D.  1887,  personally  came  before  me,  the  under- 
signed, clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cooper  County, 
in  the  State  of  Missouri,  John  S.  McFarland,  well 
known  to  me  to  be  a  reputable  citizen  of  the  city  of 
Boonville,  Mo.,  who,  being  by  me  first  duly  sworn, 
on  his  oath  says  :  I  have  been  personally  acquainted 
with  Rev.  W.  D.  Mahan  for  sixteen  years  or  more, 
and  have  always  found  him  to  be  honorable  and 
trustworthy,  and  a  very  useful  minister  in  the 
Church  to  which  he  belonged.  To  my  knowledge 
he  was  for  some  time  previous  to  1883  engaged  in 
preparing  himself  for  a  trip  to  Europe,  and  that  in 
the  fall  of  1883  he  took  leave  of  his  family  and 
friends  and  started  for  the  cities  of  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople to  investigate  those  old  records  that  he 
said  he  had  found  was  there  on  archaeology.  After 
he  had  been  gone  some  time  his  wife  received  a  let- 
ter from  him  dated  at  Rome,  Italy.  I  did  not  see 
the  postmarks  on  the  letter,  but  understood  it  was 
from  Rome. 

After  some  months  Mr.  Mahan  returned  and 
brought  quite  a  lot  of  manuscripts  with  him,  some 
4 


50  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

of  which  he  read  to  me,  and  which  were  very  inter- 
esting. These  are  as  near  the  facts  in  the  case  as  1 
can  remember  at  this  time. 

JOHN  S. 


Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  on  this  the 
12th  day  of  January,  1887. 

Witness  my  hand  and  official  seal. 

CHARLES  A.  HOUK, 

Clerk  of  Circuit  Court  of  Cooper  County.  Mo. 

By  H.  A.  HUTCHINSON. 

State  of  Missouri,  County  of  Cooper,  ss. 

Be  it  known  that  on  this  12th  day  of  January, 
A.D.  1887,  personally  came  before  me,  the  under- 
signed, clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cooper  County, 
in  the  State  of  Missouri,  R.  W.  Whitlow  and  W.  G. 
Pendleton,  composing  the  firm  of  Whitlow  &  Pen- 
dleton,  real  estate  and  loan  agents,  of  the  city  of 
Boonville,  in  said  county,  who,  being  by  me  first 
duly  sworn,  on  their  oaths  say  :  We  have  known 
the  Rev.  W.  D.  Mahan,  of  Boonville,  Mo.,  for  a 
period  of  more  than  ten  years.  He  came  to  our 
office  in  the  fall  of  1883  and  told  us  he  was  going 
to  Rome  with  a  view  to  collect  materials  for  a  book 
which  he  intended  to  write,  and  that  he  had  not 
sufficient  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  trip  ; 
at  his  request  we  loaned  him  two  hundred  dollars. 
Shortly  afterward  Mr.  Mahan  disappeared  from 
Boonville,  and  it  was  a  considerable  while  before 
we  again  met  him  here  at  Boonville,  when  he  in- 
formed us  he  had  made  the  trip  to  Rome,  Italy, 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  RECORDS.  51 

during  the  time  of  his  disappearance.  A  letter  pur- 
porting to  have  been  written  by  the  said  Mahan  to 
his  wife  from  Rome,  Italy,  was  published  in  a  news- 
paper at  Boonville,  Mo.  Soon  after  Mr.  Mahan 
reappeared  at  Boonville  he  published  and  circu- 
lated his  book.  Of  course  we  did  not  follow  him  to 
see  him  at  Rome,  but  the  foregoing  are  the  facts 
within  our  knowledge. 

R.  E.  WHITLOW, 
W.  G.  PENDLETON, 

Attorneys-at-Law. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  on  this  the 
12th  day  of  January,  1887. 

CHARLES  A.  HOUK, 

Clerk  of  Circuit  Court,  Cooper  County,  Mo. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A  SHORT  SKETCH  OP  THE  TALMUDS. 

THE  Hebrew  word  lamod  signifies  "  to  teach," 
and  to  "  teach  by  example."  The  word  example 
is  always  understood.  To  teach — this  is  what  is 
meant  by  tradition.  It  means  that  the  child  learns 
from  its  father.  From  this  word  we  get  the  word 
talmud. 

We  also  have  the  word  shanoh,  which  means  "  to 
learn,"  and  gamor,  which  means  "  having  learned  or 
having  ceased  to  learn."  The  Talmuds  are  written 
on  parchment  or  papyrus.  The  scroll  is  about  twenty 
inches  wide,  and  wound  around  a  roller.  From 
these  Talmuds  there  have  been  many  books  written 
by  the  Jewish  rabbis. 

The  most  important  is  the  Mishna.  Its  name  in- 
dicates what  it  is — the  Law.  It  contains  the  laws 
of  all  nations,  or  a  part  of  the  laws  of  the  various 
nations  of  the  earth,  such  as  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim 
thought  were  compatible  with  the  laws  of  God.  Its 
principal  teachings  are  what  we  would  call  the  moral 
law  of  God — that  is  to  say,  anything  is  right  if  God 
says  it  is  right,  and  this  is  the  only  reason  why  it  is 
right.  This  work  has  been  the  great  reference-book 
for  the  Jewish  rabbis  in  all  ages.  It  was  translated 
(52) 


SKETCH  OF  THE  1ALMUDS.  53 

and  compiled  by  Ilillel,  and  is  a  very  useful  book 
for  scholars. 

The  next  in  point  of  value  is  the  Tosephta.  This 
word  in  the  Hebrew  means  "  treatment,"  and  con- 
tains mainly  the  ritual  of  the  temple  service.  It  is 
a  very  extensive  work,  and  is  really  a  regulator  of 
human  life,  containing  the  dealings  of  husband  and 
wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and  pupil ;  in  fact, 
it  enters  into  all  the  details  of  life  with  such  thought- 
fulness  and  in  such  a  beautiful  style  that  it  should 
be  exceedingly  interesting  to  the  young.  It  cer- 
tainly contains  the  finest  system  of  morals  in  the 
world. 

Then  comes  the  Mechilta,  which  means  "  govern- 
ment "  in  the  Hebrew  language.  This  book  tells 
of  the  organization  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  its  powers 
— both  the  greater  and  the  less,  the  greater  to  be 
composed  of  seventy  and  the  less  of  twenty-four. 
These  two  legislative  bodies  had  jurisdiction  of  the 
whole  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth.  Although  they 
possessed  great  power,  it  was  not  absolute.  There 
was  another  court  that  exercised  the  highest  author- 
ity of  the  nation.  That  was  the  court  of  elders  and 
priests.  This  court  consisted  of  twelve  men,  and  its 
chairman  was  the  high  priest.  It  decided  all  appeals, 
and  could  not  be  appealed  from.  This  is  the  court 
that  tried  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  and  although  it  was 
a  court  of  appeals,  it  had  exclusive  jurisdiction  of 
capital  crimes. 

I  will  give  the  form  of  a  trial  of  an  accused  in 
this  court,  as  it  is  given  in  Mechilta.  At  the  time 


54  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

that  Jesus  was  tried  by  this  court  the  Jewish  govern- 
ment had  been  deprived  of  its  executive  power. 
This  was  one  of  the  concessions  in  the  capitulation 
to  Augustus  Caesar.  At  this  time  the  Roman  Em- 
peror's consent  had  to  be  obtained,  though  he  had 
to  use  the  Jewish  soldiers ;  for  the  Romans  had  only 
one  hundred  soldiers  at  Jerusalem.  They  were  con- 
tinually engaged  in  war,  and  needed  all  their  soldiers 
at  home.  When  an  accused  person  was  brought  be- 
fore this  court  of  the  high  priests,  they  held  a  pre- 
liminary trial,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  force  a  plea. 
If  they  could  not,  the  accused  was  sentenced  and 
then  sent  to  the  Roman  authority,  or  governor,  for 
his  approval.  The  accused  was  then  remanded  to 
the  high  priest,  and  from  him  to  the  Sanhedrim,  with 
the  charges  written  out  and  'the  names  of  the  wit- 
nesses by  which  they  had  been  proved.  If  they  ap- 
proved the  decision  of  the  high  priest,  the  prisoner 
was  sent  back  to  the  high  priest  for  his  final  trial. 
This  court  of  twelve  men  was  required  by  the  Jew- 
ish law  to  fast  and  pray  one  whole  day  before  the 
trial  commenced  ;  they  were  then  required  to  bring 
the  urim  and  thummim  out  of  the  holy  place  where 
they  were  kept,  and  to  place  them  before  the  high 
priest.  The  high  priest  was  closely  veiled,  so  that  no 
one  could  see  him,  thus  representing  God  doing  his 
work.  Then  there  was  what  was  called  the  lactees, 
consisting  of  two  men,  one  of  whom  stood  at  the 
door  of  the  court  with  a  red  flag  in  his  hand,  and 
the  other  sat  on  a  white  horse  some  distance  on  the 
road  that  led  to  the  place  of  execution.  Each  of 


SKETCH  OF  THE  TALMUDS.  55 

these  men  continually  cried  the  name  of  the  criminal, 
his  crime,  and  who  were  the  witnesses,  and  called 
upon  any  person  who  knew  anything  in  his  favor  to 
come  forward  and  testify.  After  the  testimony  was 
taken  the  eleven  men  cast  lots  or  voted,  and  their 
decision  was  shown  to  the  high  priest.  As  he  was 
too  holy  to  act  by  himself,  but  only  as  the  mouth- 
piece of  God,  he  went  up  to  a  basin  or  a  ewer,  as  it 
is  called  by  them,  and  washed  his  hands  in  token  of 
the  innocence  of  the  court,  thus  testifying  that  the 
criminal's  own  action  had  brought  condemnation  on 
himself.  As  soon  as  the  soldiers  saw  this,  they  took 
the  man  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  there  stoned 
him  till  he  was  dead.  Not  one  of  them  was  allowed 
to  speak,  not  even  to  whisper,  while  the  execution 
was  going  on.  Nothing  was  heard  but  the  pelting 
of  stones  and  the  shrieks  of  the  criminal.  To  my 
mind  this  would  be  a  most  awful  mode  of  death,  and 
one  that  would  be  likely  to  deter  others  from  commit- 
ting crime. 

Now,  I  ask  the  reader  to  consider  the  mode  of  a 
Roman  execution,  and  see  what  a  beautiful  chain  of 
divine  Providence  is  brought  out  in  the  execution  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  There  was  a  law  in  the  criminal 
code  of  the  Romans,  enacted  by  Meeleesen,  a  philos- 
opher by  nature,  who  taught  that  if  a  man  was  ac- 
cused of  a  crime  and  was  tried  and  found  not  guilty, 
he  should  be  publicly  chastised.  His  reasons  were 
that  the  man  had  acted  improperly — so  much  so  that 
he  had  created  suspicion.  This  would  seem  to  give 
license  to  an  enemy  to  work  mischief.  But  the  same 


56  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

philosopher  had  a  remedy  at  hand,  and  that  was,  that 
any  man  who  accused  another  and  failed  to  prove 
it  by  two  witnesses  should  suSer  the  punishment  the 
other  would  have  suffered  had  he  been  proved  guilty. 
After  the  whipping  was  over  the  Roman  officer 
washed  his  hands,  thereby  declaring  that  the  actions 
of  the  man  had  produced  his  own  chastisement. 
Thus,  after  Pilate  had  Jesus  scourged  he  washed  his 
hands,  forever  clearing  the  Roman  government  of  the 
blood  of  Christ.  The  reader  must  remember  that  the 
soldiers  who  brought  Jesus  from  the  court  of  the  high 
priest  were  Jewish  soldiers.  They  were  acquainted 
with  the  Jewish  custom  of  washing  the  hands  to 
condemn.  Hence,  when  they  saw  Pilate  wash  his 
hands  they  took  it  for  granted  that  Jesus  was  to  die. 
One  might  say  that  this  would  relieve  the  actors  of 
responsibility  in  this  matter.  But  if  a  man  seeks  to 
injure  me,  and  I  by  my  sagacity  avert  the  injury  he 
intended  and  change  it  into  a  blessing,  would  that 
change  the  guilty  intention  of  the  first  party  ? 

We  also  learn  from  the  Mechilta  that  the  Jewish 
commonwealth  was  divided  into  districts,  such  as 
Palestine,  Galilee,  Judea,  and  so  on.  Each  of  these 
states  had  its  courts  and  legislatures,  presided  over 
by  a  high  priest.  This  is  the  reason  we  have  so  many 
high  priests  spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament  history. 
These  states  were  subdivided  into  smaller  divisions, 
each  of  which  was  presided  over  by  a  magistrate 
who  was  an  officiating  priest.  If  any  one  will  read 
the  Mechilta,  he  will  see  clearly  the  government  of 
the  United  States  of  North  America ;  and  as  the 


SKETCH  OF  THE  TALMUDS.  57 

laws  of  the  Jewish  nation  were  all  dictated  by  the 
God  of  heaven,  we  should  appreciate  them  the  more. 

The  Saphra  means,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  "  cor- 
ner-stone or  foundation  rock,"  which  goes  to  show 
that  all  these  laws  were  founded  upon  God's  word  or 
authority.  This  is  quite  an  extended  workTancTTs 
full  of  quotations  from  the  various  works  of  the 
ancient  world.  I  would  love  to  read  this  carefully 
for  a  year  and  give  extracts  to  the  people.  I  am 
sure  that  this  little  volume  will  so  stir  American 
scholars  that  these  things  will  be  brought  before  the 
reading  world.  But  I  would  advise  whoever  does  it 
not  to  trust  to  the  printed  copies  of  the  Jewish 
rabbis,  but  go  as  I  did  to  the  original  manuscript 
at  Byzantium  and  get  it  as  it  was  written  by  its 
author. 

One  more  book  I  must  call  attention  to,  that  is, 
the  Siphri.  This  is  more  of  a  chronological  and 
biographical  work  than  anything  else,  and  is  by  far 
the  most  valuable  work  of  them  all.  It  gives  the 
history  of  the  great  events  of  all  of  them,  and  men- 
tions the  names  of  all  the  actors  of  those  events,  giv- 
ing a  detailed  account  of  the  birth,  lineage,  deaths, 
as  well  as  all  the  wise  sayings  of  such  men  as  Abra- 
ham, Joshua,  Moses,  David,  Solomon,  and  many 
others.  I  would  like  to  give  many  extracts  from 
this  work.  They  would  be  of  deep  interest  to  the 
American  people,  as  well  as  of  great  benefit  to  the 
young  and  rising  generation.  There  is  one  extract 
I  must  give.  It  will  be  read  with  great  interest  by 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  America : 


58  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME 

"  Jacob  had  twelve  sons  ;  and  when  he  saw  that 
there  were  strife  and  dissatisfaction  among  them,  he 
went  and  got  him  twelve  sticks,  and  when  he  had 
bound  them  together  with  strong  bands,  he  gave 
them  to  his  eldest  son,  and  asked  him  to  break  them. 
He  tried,  but  could  not.  Then  he  gave  them  to  the 
next,  and  so  on  until  each  one  down  to  the  youngest 
had  tried  to  break  them.  And  when  they  had  all 
failed,  the  father  took  the  bundle  of  sticks  and  untied 
them.  He  gave  one  to  the  eldest  and  told  him  to 
break  it.  He  did  so.  And  then  he  gave  one  to  the 
next,  and  so  on,  till  all  the  sticks  were  broken,  and 
each  one  had  done  his  part.  And  Jacob  said,  '  Now, 
my  sons,  you  must  learn  two  lessons  from  this :  The 
first  lesson  is,  what  neither  one  of  you  could  do,  you 
all  combined  can  do  ;  and  the  second  lesson  is,  when 
you  are  all  bound  together  you  cannot  be  broken  !'  " 

Besides  these  there  are  the  Pesikta  and  Midrasham. 
These  are  all  full  of  interesting  items,  sermons  and 
extracts  of  sermons,  and  wise  sayings  of  great  men  of 
all  ages,  the  decisions  of  the  great  Sanhedrim  on 
points  of  law  and  doctrine,  and  many  other  questions 
of  great  importance,  and  would  be  of  deep  interest  to 
the  readers  of  this  day.  Now,  the  reader  must  bear 
in  mind  that  these  several  books  that  have  been 
noticed  are  all  taken  from  the  Talmud  of  the  San- 
hedrim, which  was  made  at  Jerusalem.  These  books 
were  compiled  by  Hillel  the  Second,  soon  after  the 
destruction  of  the  holy  city,  and  were  made  so  that 
if  the  scrolls  should  be  destroyed  they  might  be  pre- 
served in  these.  After  these,  other  translations  were 


SKETCH  OF  THE  TALMUDS.  59 

made  to  relieve  the  necessity  of  the  Jews  in  their  dis- 
persed condition,  such  as  the  Nagad,  Kikhil,  Mid- 
rash,  and  so  on.  But,  remember,  all  these  works  were 
compiled  from  the  original  Talmuds  by  the  Jewish 
priests,  who,  of  course,  would  leave  out  everything 
that  had  a  tendency  to  favor  the  Christian  religion. 
In  all  such  works  we  need  not  expect  to  find  any- 
thing about  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  But  this  by  no 
means  proves  that  such  records  are  not  to  be  found. 
We  must  go  to  the  original  scrolls,  and  there  we 
may  expect  to  get  the  truth,  as  the  following  work 
will  show.  Therefore  let  the  reader  read  and  judge 
for  himself. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CONSTANTINE'S   LETTER   IN   REGARD  TO  HAVING 
FIFTY  COPIES  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES  WRITTEN  AND 

BOUND. 

IT  is  known  that  the  Roman  Emperor,  Constantine, 
who  was  converted  to  the  Christian  religion,  had  fifty 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  made  and  placed  in  the  public 
library  for  preservation.  Some  historian  has  said  that 
they  were  so  large  it  took  two  men  to  open  one  of  them. 
While  in  Constantinople  I  found  one  of  these  volumes 
nicely  cased,  marked  with  the  Emperor's  name  and 
date  upon  it.  To  me  it  was  a  great  curiosity.  I 
got  permission  with  a  little  bachsach,  as  they  call 
money,  to  look  through  it.  It  was  written  on  hieo- 
tike,  which  is  the  finest  of  parchment,  in  large,  bold, 
Latin  characters,  quite  easy  to  read.  As  far  as  I 
read  it  had  many  abbreviations  of  our  present  Scrip- 
tures, but  the  facts,  sense,  and  sentences  are  as  full, 
and,  if  anything,  more  complete  than  our  English 
version.  I  judge  it  to  be  about  two  and  a  half  by 
four  feet  square,  and  two  feet  thick.  It  is  well  bound, 
with  a  gold  plate,  twelve  by  sixteen  inches,  on  the 
front,  with  a  cross  and  a  man  hanging  on  the  cross, 
With  the  inscription,  "  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  cruci- 
fied for  the  sins  of  the  world."  If  the  Revision  Com- 
(60) 


CONSTANTINE'S  SCRIPTURES.  61 

mittee  had  examined  and  published  this  work,  they 
might  have  said  they  were  giving  the  world  some- 
thing new  ;  but  so  far  as  we  examined  we  saw  noth- 
ing essentially  diSerent  from  our  present  Bible.  Con- 
stantine's  letter  is  on  the  first  page,  which  we  tran- 
scribed. The  historian  will  remember  that  in  the 
Life  of  Constantine  (written  by  Eusebius  Pamphili, 
Bishop  of  Csesarea,  who  served  him  only  a  few  years) 
Eusebius  writes  as  follows  :  "  Ever  mindful  of  the 
welfare  of  those  churches  of  God,  the  Emperor  ad- 
dressed me  personally  in  a  letter  on  the  means  of 
providing  copies  of  the  inspired  oracles."  His  letter, 
which  related  to  providing  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
for  reading  in  the  churches,  was  to  the  following 
purport  : 


"Victor  Constantine  Maximus  Augustus  to 

It  happens  through  the  favoring  of  God  our 
Saviour,  that  great  numbers  have  united  themselves 
to  the  most  holy  church  in  this  city,  which  is  called 
by  my  name.  It  seems,  therefore,  highly  requisite, 
since  the  city  is  rapidly  advancing  in  prosperity  in 
all  other  respects,  that  the  number  of  churches  should 
also  be  increased.  Do  you,  therefore,  receive  with 
all  readiness  my  determination  on  this  behalf.  I 
have  thought  it  expedient  to  instruct  your  Prudence 
to  order  fifty  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  the 
provisions  and  use  of  which  you  know  to  be  most 
needful  for  the  instruction  of  the  churches,  to  be 
written  on  prepared  parchment,  in  a  legible  manner, 
and  in  a  commodious  and  portable  form,  by  tran- 


62  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

scribers  thoroughly  practised  in  their  art.  The  pro- 
curator of  the  diocese  has  also  received  instructions 
by  letter  from  our  Clemency  to  be  careful  to  furnish 
all  things  necessary  for  the  preparation  of  such  copies, 
and  it  will  be  for  you  to  take  special  care  that  they 
be  completed  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  You 
have  authority,  also  in  virtue  of  this  letter,  to  use 
two  of  the  public  carriages  for  their  conveyance,  by 
which  arrangement  the  copies,  when  fairly  written, 
will  most  easily  be  forwarded  for  my  personal  inspec- 
tion, and  one  of  the  deacons  of  your  church  may  be 
intrusted  with  this  service,  who,  on  his  arrival  here, 
shall  experience  my  liberality.  God  preserve  you, 
beloved  brother." 

Now  this  was  done  about  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  years  after  the  great  questions  were  started,  and 
only  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  after  the 
last  apostle  was  dead.  Suppose  some  one  should  write 
a  book  denying  that  such  a  man  as  Washington  ever 
lived  ;  that  there  never  was  a  revolution  of  the 
United  States  against  the  King  of  England  ;  what 
would  people  say  of  him?  The  children  of  this 
country  would  rise  up  and  show  him  to  be  false. 
Then  suppose  there  never  was  such  a  man  as  Jesus 
Christ ;  that  he  never  was  born  at  Bethlehem ;  that 
he  never  had  any  disciples ;  that  they  never  organ- 
ized a  Christian  Church ;  and  suppose  someone 
should  say  there  was  no  persecution  of  the  Christian 
Church  for  two  hundred  years ;  what  would  you 
think  of  a  king  doing  such  a  thing  as  making  the 


CONSTANTINE'S  SCRIPTURES.  63 

above-described  books  ?  Remember,  too,  that  noth- 
ing was  written  in  those  days  but  the  most  important 
affairs  of  life,  because  only  a  few  men  could  write, 
and  the  means  of  writing  were  limited.  Now,  the 
existence  of  these  writings  was  never  denied  for 
twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  years  afterward.  Their 
intent  and  spirituality  may  have  been  denied,  but 
the  facts  never  were.  Now  what  ought  we  to  think 
of  a  man  who  would  deny  events  that  occurred  two 
thousand  years  ago,  that  were  recorded  in  the  rec- 
ords of  kings  and  historical  writers,  when  he  had 
not  one  single  record  to  prove  it  ?  How  can  he  know 
that  such  records  are  false  ?  He  would  have  no  his- 
tory, no  records  of  those  days  to  prove  it ;  and  if 
they  were  false,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  think  that  they 
would  have  been  proved  so  then  ? 


CHAPTER  IV. 

JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  BETHLEHEM 
SHEPHERDS — LETTER  OF  MELKER,  PRIEST  OF 
THE  SYNAGOGUE  AT  BETHLEHEM. 

Sanhedrim,  88  B.     By  R.  Jose.     Order  No.  2. 

JONATHAN,  son  of  Heziel,  questions  the  shepherds 
and  others  at  Bethlehem  in  regard  to  the  strange 
circumstances  reported  to  have  occurred  there,  and 
reports  to  this  court : 

"  Jonathan  to  the  Masters  of  Israel,  Servants  of  the 
True  God  :  In  obedience  to  your  order,  I  met  with 
two  men,  who  said  they  were  shepherds,  and  were 
watching  their  flocks  near  Bethlehem.  They  told 
me  that  while  attending  to  their  sheep,  the  night 
being  cold  and  chilly,  some  of  them  had  made  fires 
to  warm  themselves,  and  some  of  them  had  laid  down 
and  were  asleep ;  that  they  were  awakened  by  those 
who  were  keeping  watch  with  the  question,  '  What 
does  all  this  mean  ?  Behold,  how  light  it  is !'  that 
when  they  were  aroused  it  was  light  as  day.  But 
they  knew  it  was  not  daylight,  for  it  was  only  the 
third  watch.  All  at  once  the  air  seemed  to  be  filled 
with  human  voices,  .Jaying,  '  Glory  !  Glory  !  Glory 
to  the  most  high  God !'  and,  '  Happy  art  thou,  Beih- 
(64) 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  65 

lehem,  for  God  hath  fulfilled  His  promise  to  the  fath- 
ers ;  for  in  thy  chambers  is  born  the  King  that  shall 
rule  in  righteousness.'  Their  shoutings  would  rise 
up  in  the  heavens,  and  then  would  sink  down  in  mel- 
low strains,  and  roll  along  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  die  away  in  the  most  soft  and  musical 
manner  they  had  ever  heard ;  then  it  would  begin 
again  high  up  in  the  heavens,  in  the  very  vaults  of 
the  sky,  and  descend  in  sweet  and  melodious  strains, 
so  that  they  could  not  refrain  from  shouting  and 
weeping  at  the  same  time.  The  light  would  seem  to 
burst  forth  high  up  in  the  heavens,  and  then  descend 
in  softer  rays  and  light  up  the  hills  and  valleys, 
making  everything  more  visible  than  the  light  of 
the  sun,  though  it  was  not  so  brilliant,  but  clearer, 
like  the  brightest  moon.  I  asked  them  how  they  felt 
— if  they  were  not  afraid  ;  they  said  at  first  they 
were  ;  but  after  awhile  it  seemed  to  calm  their  spirits, 
and  so  fill  their  hearts  with  love  and  tranquillity  that 
they  felt  more  like  giving  thanks  than  anything  else. 
They  said  it  was  around  the  whole  city,  and  some 
of  the  people  were  almost  scared  to  death.  Some 
said  the  world  was  on  fire  ;  some  said  the  gods  were 
coming  down  to  destroy  them  ;  others  said  a  star 
had  fallen ;  until  Melker  the  priest  came  out  shout- 
ing and  clapping  his  hands,  seeming  to  be  frantic 
with  joy.  The  people  all  came  crowding  around 
him,  and  he  told  them  that  it  was  the  sign  that  God 
was  coming  to  fulfil  His  promise  made  to  their  father 
•Abraham.  He  told  us  that  fourteen  hundred  years 
before  God  had  appeared  to  Abraham,  and  told  him 
5 


66  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

to  put  all  Israel  under  bonds — sacred  bonds  of  obedi- 
ence ;  and  if  they  would  be  faithful,  he  would  give 
them  a  Saviour  to  redeem  them  from  sin,  and  that  he 
would  give  them  eternal  life,  and  that  they  should 
hunger  no  more ;  that  the  time  of  their  suffering  should 
cease  forever ;  and  that  the  sign  of  his  coming  would 
be  that  light  would  shine  from  on  high,  and  the  angels 
would  announce  his  coming,  and  their  voices  should 
be  heard  in  the  city,  and  the  people  should  rejoice  : 
and  a  virgin  that  was  pure  should  travail  in  pain 
and  bring  forth  her  first  born,  and  he  should  rule  all 
flesh  by  sanctifying  it  and  making  it  obedient.  After 
Melker  had  addressed  the  people  in  a  loud  voice,  he 
and  all  the  old  Jews  went  into  the  synagogue  and 
remained  there  praising  God  and  giving  thanks. 

"  I  went  to  see  Melker,  who  related  to  me  much 
the  same  as  the  shepherds  had  reported.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  lived  in  India,  and  that  his  father 
had  been  priest  at  Antioch  ;  that  he  had  studied  the 
sacred  scrolls  of  God  all  his  life,  and  that  he  knew 
that  the  time  had  come,  from  signs  given,  for  God. 
to  visit  and  save  the  Jews  from  Roman  oppression 
and  from  their  sins  ;  and  as  evidence  he  showed  me 
many  quotations  on  the  tripod  respecting  the  matter. 

"  He  said  that  next  day  three  strangers  from  a  great 
distance  called  on  him,  and  they  went  in  search  of 
this  young  child ;  and  they  found  him  and  his 
mother  in  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  where  there  was  a 
shed  projecting  out  for  the  sheltering  of  sheep  ;  that 
his  mother  was  married  to  a  man  named  Joseph,  and 
she  related  to  them  the  history  of  her  child,  saying 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  67 

that  an  angel  had  visited  her,  and  told  her  that  she 
should  have  a  son,  and  she  should  call  him  Jesus, 
for  he  should  redeem  his  people  from  their  sins ;  and 
he  should  call  her  blessed  forever  more. 

"  Whether  this  is  true  or  not  remains  to  be  proved 
in  the  future.  There  have  been  so  many  impostors 
in  the  world,  so  many  babes  born  under  pretended 
miracles,  and  all  have  proved  to  be  a  failure,  that 
this  one  may  be  false,  this  woman  only  wishing  to 
hide  her  shame  or  court  the  favor  of  the  Jews. 

"  I  am  informed  that  she  will  be  tried  by  our  law, 
and,  if  she  can  give  no  better  evidence  of  her  virtue 
than  she  has  given  to  Melker,  she  will  be  stoned 
according  to  our  law,  although,  as  Melker  says,  there 
never  has  been  a  case  before  with  such  apparent 
divine  manifestations  as  were  seen  on  this  occa- 
sion. In  the  past,  in  various  instances,  virgins  have 
pretended  to  be  with  child  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  but 
at  the  time  of  their  delivery  there  was  no  light  from 
the  heavens,  and  no  angels  talking  among  the  clouds 
and  declaring  that  this  was  the  King  of  the  Jews. 
And,  as  to  the  truth  of  these  things,  the  whole  of 
the  people  of  Bethlehem  testify  to  having  seen  it,  and 
the  Roman  guard  also  came  out  and  asked  what  it 
xneant,  and  they  showed  by  their  actions  that  they 
were  very  much  alarmed.  These  things,  Melker 
says,  are  all  declared  in  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  sign 
of  His  coming.  Melker  is  a  man  of  great  learning 
and  well  versed  in  the  prophecies,  and  he  sends  you 
this  letter,  referring  you  to  those  prophecies  : 


68  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME, 

"  '  Melker,  Priest  of  the  Synagogue  of  Bethlehem, 
to  the  Higher  Sanhedrim  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem : 

"  '  HOLY  MASTERS  OF  ISRAEL  :  I,  your  servant, 
would  call  your  attention  to  the  words  of  the  prophet 
in  regard  to  the  forerunner,  and  the  rise  as  well  as 
the  conductor  of  a  great  and  mighty  nation,  wherein 
should  dwell  the  true  principles  of  righteousness  and 
the  conductor  of  the  outward  formation  of  a  national 
domain  of  God  upon  earth.  As  evidence  of  the  fact, 
the  vision  and  affliction  that  has  befallen  Zacharias 
of  late  is  enough  to  satisfy  all  men  of  the  coming  of 
some  great  event ;  and  this  babe  of  Elizabeth  is  the 
beginning  of  better  times. 

"  '  What  has  occurred  here  in  the  last  few  days, 
as  Jonathan  will  inform  you,  forever  settles  the  ques- 
tion that  the  day  of  our  redemption  is  drawing  nigh. 
The  sections  of  these  divisions  are  three :  First,  the 
general  survey ;  the  original  foundation  and  destiny 
of  man  in  his  single  state ;  the  proto-evangel ;  the 
full  development  of  mankind  ;  the  promises  to  the 
fathers  of  the  covenant  people ;  Judah,  the  leader 
tribe ;  section  second,  the  Mosaic  law  and  the  Mosaic 
outlook  ;  the  prophecy  of  Baalam ;  section  third, 
the  anointed  one ;  and  the  prophets  of  the  past  exile : 
Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi ;  Malachi's  proph- 
ecy of  the  forerunner  of  the  Lord.  Now,  noble 
masters  of  Israel,  if  you  will  refer  to  the  several 
sections  of  the  divine  word,  you  will  not  fail  to  see 
that  all  that  has  been  spoken  by  the  prophets  in 
regard  to  the  works  of  God  upon  earth  has  been 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  69 

fulfilled  in  the  last  few  days  in  the  two  events,  the 
birth  of  the  child  of  Elizabeth  and  that  of  Mary  of 
Bethlehem. 

"  '  The  unlimited  freedom  which  some  men  take 
with  these  holy  writings  of  God,  as  to  the  above 
prophecy,  subjects  us  to  the  severest  criticism.  It 
is,  however,  most  satisfactory  to  see  and  hear  that 
the  divine  grandeur  and  authority  of  the  sacred 
oracles  are  in  no  way  dependent  on  the  solution  of 
carnal  critics,  but  rest  on  an  inward  light  shining 
everywhere  out  of  the  bosom  of  a  profound  organic 
unity  and  an  interconnected  relation  with  a  consist- 
ent and  united  teleology  ;  overleaping  all  time,  the 
historical  present  as  well  as  the  past,  and  all  the  past 
brought  to  light  in  these  two  events  that  have  just 
transpired.  Indeed,  all  past  time  is  blending  with 
the  present  horizon,  and  the  works  of  God  in  ages 
past  are  just  beginning  to  develop  themselves  at  this 
particular  time,  and  the  present  scenes  are  bringing 
us  close  on  to  the  ways  of  God  upon  earth.  While 
we  reverence  these  men  of  God,  we  should  not 
misquote  their  language.  Take,  for  example,  the 
third  section  of  Isaiah,  where  he  prophesies  of  the 
captive  Israelites,  instead  of  his  consolation  to  the 
captive.  While  one  of  his  words  refers  to  the  future 
condition  and  the  reason  therefor,  the  other  is  sweet 
in  consolation  of  the  Israelites  while  in  this  state  of 
captivity,  and  full  of  the  blessed  promises  in  the 
future. 

"  '  But  let  the  spirit  of  prophecy  bear  us  on  with 
the  prophet  into  future  time,  far  beyond  the  king- 


70  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

doms  of  this  world  into  a  glorious  future,  regardless 
of  the  Roman,  Babylonian,  or  even  the  Maccabeean 
rule  or  rulers ;  but  never  forgetting  that  the  prophet 
is  one  who  is  divinely  inspired,  and  is  called,  commis- 
sioned, and  qualified  to  declare  the  will  as  well  as 
the  knowledge  of  God.  Yes,  he  is  a  seer.  His 
prophecy  is  of  the  na  :ure  of  a  vision,  involving  and 
enveloping  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  and  placing 
the  prophet  in  the  attitude  to  God  of  being  outside 
the  body  and  independent  of  it  Yea,  far  better 
without  the  body  than  with  it ;  for  the  further  the 
soul  gets  from  the  body  the  more  active  it  becomes. 
This  fact  is  demonstrated  in  our  dreams.  The  vivid 
powers  of  the  soul  are  much  more  active  in  dreams 
than  at  any  other  time,  the  perception  is  clearer,  and 
the  sensitive  faculties  are  much  more  alive  when 
asleep  than  when  awake.  We  see  this  verified  in 
the  man  dying.  His  eye  is  usually  brighter,  his 
mind  is  clearer,  his  soul  is  freer  and  less  selfish,  as  he 
passes  on  and  nears  the  eternal  state. 

"  '  So  is  the  prophet.  He  becomes  so  personal 
with  God  that  he  uses  the  personalities  with  seeming 
presumption  ;  while  it  is  the  indwelling  power  of 
God's  spirit  inflating  the  soul  and  setting  the  tongue 
on  fire.  So  was  the  moving  language  of  the  words 
to  which  you  have  been  referred.  It  seems  to  me 
those  men  of  God  saw  distinctly  the  gathering  light ; 
they  saw  the  travailing  of  the  virgin,  they  saw  the 
helpless  infant  in  the  sheep  trough  ;  they  heard  the 
mighty  chanting  of  the  heavenly  host ;  they  saw  the 
ambition  of  human  nature  in  the  Roman  soldiery 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  71 

aiming  to  destroy  the  child's  life ;  and  in  that  infant 
they  saw  human  nature  in  its  fallen  and  helpless 
condition  ;  and  it  appears  as  if  they  saw  the  advance 
of  that  infant  into  perfect  manhood.  As  he  be- 
comes the  theme  of  the  world,  his  advancing  nature 
will  triumph  over  all ;  as  he  does  escape  the  Roman 
authority  this  day,  so  he  will  finally  triumph  over 
all  the  world,  and  even  death  itself  shall  be  destroyed. 
"  '  We,  as  Jews,  place  too  much  confidence  in  the 
outward  appearance,  while  the  idea  we  get  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  all  of  a  carnal  nature,  consist- 
ing of  forms  and  ceremonies.  The  prophecies  re- 
ferred to,  and  many  other  passages  that  I  might  men- 
tion, all  go  to  show  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to 
begin  within  us,  in  the  inner  life,  and  rule  there,  and 
from  the  inner  nature  all  outward  actions  are  to  flow 
in  conformity  with  the  revealed  and  written  teach- 
ings and  commands  of  God.  So  is  the  spirit  of 
prophecy.  While  it  uses  the  natural  organs  of  speech, 
it  at  the  same  time  controls  all  the  faculties  of  life, 
producing  sometimes  a  real  ecstacy,  not  mechani- 
cal or  loss  of  consciousness,  though  cut  off  for  the 
time  from  external  relations.  He  is  thus  circum- 
scribed to  speak,  as  did  Balaam,  the  words  of  God 
with  human  life.  This  is  to  be  held  by  us  Jews  as 
of  the  first  and  greatest  importance,  and  we  are  to 
remember  that  his  prophecy  has  the  same  reference 
to  the  future  that  it  does  to  the  past,  and  has  respect 
to  the  whole  empire  of  man.  While  it  specifies  in- 
dividuals and  nations,  it  often  has  reference  to  doc- 
trines and  principles  ;  and  in  this  light  Israel  is  the 


72  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

result  of  prophecy,  as  a  nation  with  her  religious 
teachings.  So  is  this  virgin's  babe  born  to  be  a  ruler 
of  all  nations  of  the  earth.  The  Torah  itself  goes 
back  to  prophecy,  as  well  as  every  prophet  stands  on 
the  Torah,  and  on  this  rests  all  prophecy  pronounc- 
ing condemnation  on  the  disobedient  and  blessings 
on  the  faithful.  It  was  on  this  principle  that  the 
covenant  of  inheritance  was  made  with  Abraham, 
and,  in  reality,  so  made  with  David.  Thus  all  the 
promises,  political,  ethical,  judicial,  and  ritual,  rest 
on  the  Torah.  In  short,  the  whole  administration 
finds  its  authority  in  the  prophetic  vision,  as  set  forth 
by  the  commands  of  God,  to  regulate  human  life — 
commencing  in  the  inner  life  and  working  outward, 
until  the  outward  is  like  the  inward  ;  and  thus  ad- 
vancing on  from  individuals  to  nations. 

"  '  The  Messianic  prophecy  has  no  other  justifica- 
tion than  this.  On  this  rests  the  church,  and  on  this 
rests  the  theocracy.  On  this  rests  the  glory  of  the 
future  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth. 

"  '  The  whole  chain  of  prophecy  is  already  fulfilled 
in  this  babe ;  but  the  development  is  only  commenc- 
ing. He  will  abolish  the  old  cultus  forever,  but  with 
man  it  will  develop  commensurate  with  time  itself. 
There  are  many  types  in  the  shadow,  in  the  plant,  in 
the  animal.  Every  time  the  Romans  celebrated  a 
triumph  on  the  Tiber  it  shadowed  forth  the  coming 
Caesar ;  so  every  suffering  of  David,  or  lamentation 
of  Job,  or  glory  of  Solomon — yea,  every  wail  of 
human  sorrow,  every  throe  of  human  grief,  every 
dying  sigh,  every  failing  bitter  tear — was  a  type,  a 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  73 

prophecy  of  the  coming  King  of  the  Jews  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  \world.  Israel  stands  as  a  common 
factor  at  every  great  epoch  of  history.  The  shading 
of  the  colors  of  the  prophetic  painting  does  not  oblit- 
erate the  prediction  of  the  literal  Israel's  more  glori- 
ous future  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Her  historic 
calling  to  meditate  salvation  to  the  nations  is  not 
ended  with  this  new-comer  on  the  stage  of  earthly 
life.  The  prophecy  is  eschatological,  refining  the 
inner  life  as  well  as  shaping  the  outer  life  in  confor- 
mity to  good  laws.  Looking  also  to  the  end  of  time 
and  its  great  importance  to  us,  it  has  something  to 
teach,  and  we  have  something  to  learn.  Along  the 
ages  past  all  the  great,  good,  and  happy  have  first 
learned  their  duties,  and  then  performed  them  :  and 
thus  for  thousands  of  years  Israel  has  stood,  hope 
never  dying  in  the  Hebrew  heart,  and  has  been  the 
only  appointed  source  of  preserved  knowledge  of  the 
true  God.  And  this  day  she  stands  as  the  great  fac- 
tor and  centre  around  which  all  nations  of  the  earth 
must  come  for  instruction  to  guide  them,  that  they 
may  become  better  and  happier. 

"  '  These  sacred  scrolls  which  we  Jews  received 
from  God  by  the  hand  of  Moses  are  the  only  hope  of 
the  world.  If  they  were  lost  to  mankind,  it  would 
be  worse  than  putting  out  the  sun,  moon,  and  all  the 
stars  of  night,  for  this  would  be  a  loss  of  sacred  light 
to  the  souls  of  men.  When  we  consider  the  sur- 
roundings, there  never  has  been  a  time  more  propi- 
tious than  the  present  for  the  establishing  of  the 
true  religion,  and  it  seems,  by  reviewing  our  history 


74  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

for  hundreds  of  years  past,  that  this  is  the  time  for 
the  ushering  in  of  the  true  kingdom  of  God.  The 
nations  of  the  earth  that  have  been  given  to  idolatry 
are  growing  tired  of  placing  confidence  in  a-nd  de- 
pending on  gods  that  do  not  help  them  in  the  hour  of 
danger,  and  they  are  now  wanting  a  God  that  can 
and  will  answer  their  calls. 

"  '  King  Herod  sent  for  me  the  other  day,  and  after 
I  related  to  him  of  the  God  of  the  Jews  and  His 
works,  of  the  many  and  mighty  deeds  He  had  per- 
formed for  our  fathers  and  for  us  as  a  nation,  he 
seemed  to  think,  if  there  was  such  a  God  as  we  pro- 
fessed, it  was  far  better  than  to  depend  on  such  gods 
as  the  Romans  had  made,  of  timber,  stone,  and  iron ; 
and  even  the  gods  of  gold  were  powerless.  He  said 
that  if  he  could  know  that  this  babe  that  was  de- 
clared by  the  angels,  was  such  a  God  as  he  that  saved 
the  Israelites  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  saved  Daniel,  and 
those  three  from  the  fearful  heat  of  fire,  he  would 
have  pursued  quite  a  different  course  toward  him. 
He  was  under  the  impression  that  he  had  come  to 
drive  the  Romans  from  their  possessions,  and  to  reign 
as  a  monarch  instead  of  Caesar.  And  I  find  this  to  be 
the  general  feeling  throughout  the  world,  so  far  as  I 
can  hear ;  that  the  people  want  and  are  ready  to  re- 
ceive a  God  that  can  demonstrate  in  his  life  that  he 
is  such  a  God  that  the  race  of  men  can  depend  on  in 
time  of  trouble  ;  and  if  he  can  show  such  power  to 
his  friends  he  will  be  feared  by  his  enemies,  and 
thus  become  universally  obeyed  by  all  nations  of  the 
earth.  And  this,  I  fear,  is  going  to  be  a  trouble  with 


JON  A  THAN'S  INTER  VIE  W.  75 

our  nation  ;  our  people  are  going  to  look  to  him  as  a 
temporal  deliverer,  and  will  aim  to  circumscribe  him 
to  the  Jews  alone  ;  and  when  his  actions  begin  to 
flow  out  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  in  love 
and  charity,  as  is  most  certainly  shown  forth  in  the 
ninth  section  of  the  holy  prophet,  then  I  fear  the 
Jews  will  reject  him  ;  and,  in  fact,  we  are  warned 
of  that  already  in  the  third  section  of  Jeremiah's 
word.  To  avoid  this  Israel  must  be  taught  that  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  does  not  stop  with  the  Babylo- 
nian captivity  and  return  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  that  Ezekiel's  wheels  do  not  whirl  politically  or 
spiritually  in  heaven,  but  upon  earth,  and  have  refer- 
ence to  earthly  revolutions  or  changes,  and  show  the 
bringing  to  pass  of  the  great  events  of  which  this  of 
Bethlehem  is  the  grandest  of  all. 

"  '  Neither  is  the  outlook  of  Daniel  to  be  confined 
to  the  shade  of  the  Maccabeean  wall  of  Jewish  con- 
quest. Nor  are  these  great  questions  to  be  decided 
by  our  unsuccessful  attempts  to  find  out  what  the 
prophet  meant  or  what  he  might  have  understood 
himself  to  mean  ;  but  from  the  unity,  totality,  and 
organic  connection  of  the  whole  body  of  prophecy, 
as  referring  to  the  kingdom  of  this  world  becoming 
subject  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Saviour  of  all  men. 
We,  as  Jews,  are  the  only  people  that  God  has  in- 
trusted with  the  great  questions,  and,  of  course,  the 
world  will  look  to  and  expect  us  to  give  interpreta- 
tion to  these  questions  ;  and  as  we  are  intrusted  with 
these  things,  God  will  hold  us  responsible  if  we  fail 
to  give  the  true  light  on  this  subject.  Up  to  this 


76  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

time  I  am  fearful  the  Jews  as  a  nation  are  as  much 
divided,  and  perhaps  as  much  mistaken,  as  to  the 
nature  of  His  works,  as  any  other  people.  I  find, 
by  conversing  with  the  Romans,  Greeks,  and  others, 
that  all  their  knowledge  of  these  things  of  Jewish 
expectation  of  a  Redeemer  has  been  obtained  from 
the  Jews,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  and  it  was 
through  them  Herod  got  the  idea  of  his  being  a 
temporal  King,  and  to  rule  and  reign  by  the  might 
of  carnal  weapons ;  whereas,  if  we  consult  the  spir- 
itual import  of  the  prophets,  his  office  is  to  blend  all 
nations  in  one  common  brotherhood,  and  establish 
love  in  the  place  of  law,  and  that  heart  should  throb 
high  with  love  to  heart,  and  under  this  law  a  univer- 
sal peace.  Wherever  one  should  meet  another  they 
should  meet  as  friends ;  for  what  else  can  the  prophet 
mean,  in  section  nine,  where  he  shows  that  this  King 
shall  destroy  all  carnal  weapons  and  convert  them 
to  a  helpful  purpose,  and  thus  become  the  active 
worker  in  doing  good  to  all  men,  and  teaching  all 
men  to  do  good  to  each  other  ? 

"  '  By  reading  all  the  scrolls  of  God  we  find  that 
the  unity  and  totality  of  all  the  prophets  go  to  bear 
us  out  in  this  idea,  and  all  have  reference  to  this 
Babe  of  Bethlehem.  If  we  consult  them  as  to  the 
time,  taking  the  revolutions  of  Ezekiel's  wheels,  they 
show  plainly  that  the  revolutions  of  the  different 
governments  of  the  world  fix  this  as  the  time.  Next, 
consult  them  in  regard  to  the  individuals  connected 
with  this  great  event.  These  are  pointed  to  as  the 
virgin  wife,  by  Zacharias ;  next,  the  place  has  been 


JONATHAN'S  INTERVIEW.  77 

pointed  out  and  named  ;  then  the  light  and  the  ap- 
pearing of  the  angels  have  all  been  set  forth,  and 
also  the  opposition  of  the  Romans  has  been  declared. 
Now,  I  ask  the  High  Court  of  the  living  God  to  look 
well  on  these  things,  and  tell  us  how  men  that  lived 
in  different  ages  of  the  world,  that  lived  in  different 
portions  of  the  country — men  that  never  knew  each 
other — men  that  were  not  prophesying  for  a  party — 
men  that  had  no  personal  interest  in  the  subject  as 
men — men  that  jeopardized,  and  some  of  them  lost 
their  lives  on  account  of  having  uttered  these  proph- 
ecies— how  could  they  all  point  out  the  place,  the 
time,  and  the  names  of  the  parties  so  plain  and  clear, 
if  it  was  not  revealed  to  them  and  ordained  by  God 
himself  ?  I  understand  that  the  Romans  and  some 
of  the  priests  have  been  saying  that  Zacharias  was 
a  hypocrite,  and  that  Mary  was  a  bad  woman  Such 
might  be  the  case,  so  far  as  man  is  able  to  judge ; 
but  who,  I  ask,  can  forge  such  truth  as  these  proph- 
ecies, and  make  them  come  true  ?  Or  who  can  cause 
light  to  descend  from  the  heavens  and  the  angels 
come  down  and  make  the  declaration  that  this  was 
the  Son  of  God,  King  of  the  Jews  ? 

"  '  Noble  Masters  of  the  Sanhedrim,  I  was  not 
alone.  I  am  not  the  only  witness  of  these  things. 
The  principal  people  of  Bethlehem  saw  them  and 
heard  them  as  I  did.  I  would  say  to  you,  if  this  is 
not  the  Jews'  King,  then  we  need  not  look  for  any 
other ;  for  every  line  of  prophecy  has  been  most  com- 
pletely fulfilled  in  him  ;  and  if  he  does  not  appear 
and  save  his  own  people  I  shall  despair  of  ever  being 


78  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

released,  and  I  shall  believe  that  we  have  misinter- 
preted the  meaning  of  all  the  prophets.  But  I  feel 
so  sure  that  this  is  he  I  shall  wait  in  expectation  and 
with  much  anxiety,  and  I  have  no  fears  of  any  harm 
befalling  him.  All  the  Romans  in  the  world  can- 
not harm'  him ;  and  although  Herod  may  rage, 
may  destroy  all  the  infants  in  the  world,  the  same 
angels  that  attended  his  birth  will  watch  over  him 
through  life,  and  the  Romans  will  have  to  contend 
with  the  same  God  that  Pharaoh  did,  and  will  meet 
with  similar  defeat.' " 


CHAPTER  V. 

GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  JOSEPH  AND  MARY 
AND  OTHERS  CONCERNING  JESUS. 

THE  hagiographa  or  holy  writings,'  found  in  the 
St.  Sophia  Mosque  at  Constantinople,  made  by  Gama- 
liel, in  the  Talmuds  of  the  Jews,  27  B.  It  seems 
Gamaliel  was  sent  by  the  Sanhedrim  to  interrogate 
Joseph  and  Mary  in  regard  to  this  child  Jesus.  He 


"  I  found  Joseph  and  Mary  in  the  city  of  Mecca, 
in  the^  land  of  Ammon  or  Moab.  But  I  did  not  find 
Jesus.  When  I  went  to  the  place  where  I  was  told 
he  was,  he  was  somewhere  else  ;  and  thus  I  followed 
him  from  place  to  place,  until  I  despaired  of  finding 
him  at  all.  Whether  he  knew  that  I  was  in  search 
of  him  and  did  it  to  elude  me,  I  cannot  tell,  though 
I  think  it  most  likely  the  former  was  the  reason,  for 
his  mother  says  he  is  bashful  and  shuns  company. 

"  Joseph  is  a  wood-workman.  He  is  very' tall  and 
ugly.  His  hair  looks  as  though  it  might  have  been 
dark  auburn  when  young.  His  eyes  are  gray  and 
vicious.  He  is  anything  but  prepossessing  in  his 
appearance,  and  he  is  as  gross  and  glum  as  he  looks, 

(79) 


80  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

He  is  but  a  poor  talker,  and  it  seems  that  yes  and  no 
are  the  depth  of  his  mind.  I  am  satisfied  he  is  very 
disagreeable  to  his  family.  His  children  look  very 
much  like  him,  and  upon  the  whole  I  should  call 
them  a  third-rate  family.  I  asked  him  who  were  his 
parents.  He  said  his  father's  name  was  Jacob,  and 
his  grandfather  was  Matthew.  He  did  not  like  to 
talk  on  the  subject.  He  is  very  jealous.  I  told  him 
that  we  had  heard  that  he  had  ha,d  a  vision,  and  I 
was  sent  to  ascertain  the  facts  in  the  case.  He  said 
he  did  not  call  it  a  vision  ;  he  called  it  a  dream.  He 
said  after  he  and  Mary  had  agreed  to  marry,  it 
seemed  that  something  told  him  that  Mary  was  with 
child  ;  that  he  did  not  know  whether  he  was  asleep 
or  awake,  but  it  made  such  an  impression  on  his 
mind  that  he  concluded  to  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  her ;  and  while  he  was  working  one  day  under 
a  shed,  all  at  once  a  man  in  snowy  white  stood  by 
his  side,  and  told  him  not  to  doubt  the  virfue  of 
Mary,  for  she  was  holy  before  the  Lord  ;  that  the 
child  conceived  in  her  was  not  by  man,  but  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  that  the  child  would  be  free  from 
human  passions.  In  order  to  do  this  he  must — that 
is,  his.  humanity  must — be  of  the  extract  of  almah 
(that  is  the  Hebrew  word  for  virgin),  that  he  might  en- 
dure all  things,  and  not  resist,  and  fill  the  demands  of 
prophecy.  He  said  the  angel  told  him  that  this  child 
should  be  great  and  should  rule  all  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world.  He  said  that  this  child  should  set  up  a 
new  kingdom,  wherein  should  dwell  righteousness 
and  peace,  and  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  which 


GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW.  81 

should  oppose  him  God  would  utterly  destroy.  I 
asked  him,  How  could  a  virgin  conceive  of  herself 
without  the  germination  of  the  male  ?  He  said  : 
"  This  is  the  work  of  God.  He  has  brought  to  life 
the  womb  of  Elizabeth,  so  she  had  conceived  and 
will  bear  a  son  in  her  old  age  who  will  go  before  and 
tell  the  people  of  the  coming  of  this  King."  After 
telling  me  all  these  things,  he  disappeared  like  the 
melting  down  of  a  light.  I  then  went  and  told  Mary 
what  had  occurred,  and  she  told  me  that  the  same 
angel,  or  one  like  him,  had  appeared  to  her  and  told 
the  same  things.  So  I  married  Mary,  thinking  that 
if  what  the  angel  had  told  us  was  true,  it  would  be 
greatly  to  our  advantage  ;  but  I  am  fearful  we  are 
mistaken.  Jesus  seems  to  take  no  interest  in  us,  nor 
anything  else  much,  I  call  him  lazy  and  careless. 
I  do  not  think  he  will  ever  amount  to  much,  much 
less  be  a  king.  If  he  does,  he  must  do  a  great  deal 
better  than  he  has  been  doing.'  I  asked  him  how 
long  after  that  interview  with  the  angel  before  the 
child  was  born.  He  said  he  did  not  know,  but  he 
thought  it  was  seven  or  eight  months.  I  asked  him 
where  they  were  at  the  time.  He  said  in  Bethlehem. 
The  Roman  commander  had  given  orders  for  all  the 
Jews  to  go  on  a  certain  day  to  be  enrolled  as  tax- 
payers, and  he  and  Mary  went  to  Bethlehem  as  the 
nearest  place  of  enrollment ;  and  while  there  this 
babe  was  born.  I  asked  if  anything  strange  occurred 
there  that  night.  He  said  that  the  people  were 
much  excited,  but  he  was  so  tired  that  he  had  gone 
to  sleep,  and  saw  nothing.  He  said  toward  day  there 
6 


82  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

were  several  priests  came  in  to  see  them  and  the 
babe,  and  gave  them  many  presents.  And  the  news 
got  circulated  that  this  child  was  to  be  King  of  the 
Jews,  and  it  created  such  an  excitement  that  he  took 
the  child  and  his  mother  and  came  to  Moab  for  pro- 
tection, for  fear  the  Romans  would  kill  the  child  to 
keep  it  from  being  a  rival  to  the  Romans. 

"  I  discovered  that  all  Joseph's  ideas  were  of  a 
selfish  kind.  All  he  thought  of  was  himself.  Mary 
is  altogether  a  different  character,  and  she  is  too 
noble  to  be  the  wife  of  such  a  man.  She  seems  to 
be  about  forty  or  forty-five  years  of  age,  abounds 
with  a  cheerful  and  happy  spirit  and  is  full  of  happy 
fancies.  She  is  fair  to  see,  rather  fleshy,  has  soft 
and  innocent-looking  eyes,  and  seems  to  be  naturally 
a  good  woman.  I  asked  her  who  her  parents  were, 
and  she  said  her  father's  name  was  Eli,  and  her 
mother's  name  was  Anna ;  her  grandmother's  name 
was  Fennel,  a  widow  of  the  tribe  of  Asher,  of  great 
renown.  I  asked  her  if  Jesus  was  the  son  of  Joseph. 
She  said  he  was  not.  I  asked  her  to  relate  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  child's  history.  She  said  that  one 
day  while  she  was  grinding  some  meal  there  appeared 
at  the  door  a  stranger  in  shining  raiment,  which 
showed  as  bright  as  the  light.  She  was  very  much 
alarmed  at  his  presence,  and  trembled  like  a  leaf ; 
but  all  her  fears  were  calmed  when  he  spoke  to  her ; 
for  he  said  :  '  Mary,  thou  art  loved  by  the  Lord  and 
He  has  sent  me  to  tell  thee  that  thou  shalt  have  a 
child  ;  that  this  child  shall  be  great  and  rule  all  na- 
tions of  the  earth.'  She  continued  :  '  I  immediately 


GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW.  83 

thought  of  my  engagement  to  Joseph,  and  supposed 
that  was  the  way  the  child  was  to  come  ;  but  he  as- 
tonished me  the  more  when  he  told  me  that  cousin 
Elisabeth  had  conceived  and  would  bear  a  son,  whose 
name  was  to  be  John  ;  and  my  son  should  be  called 
Jesus.  This  caused  me  to  remember  that  Zacharias 
had  seen  a  vision  and  disputed  with  the  angel,  and 
for  that  he  was  struck  with  dumbness,  so  that  he 
could  no  longer  hold  the  priest's  office.  I  asked  the 
messenger  if  Joseph  knew  anything  of  the  matter. 
He  said  that  he  told  Joseph  that  I  was  to  have  a  child 
by  command  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  he  was  to 
redeem  his  people  from  their  sins,  and  was  to  reign 
over  the  whole  world  ;  that  every  man  should  confess 
to  him  and  he  should  rule  over  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth.' 

"  I  asked  her  how  she  knew  that  he  was  an  angel, 
and  she  said  he  told  her  so,  and  then  she  knew  he 
was  an  angel  from  the  way  he  came  and  went.  I 
asked  her  to  describe  how  he  went  away  from  her, 
and  she  said  that  he  seemed  to  melt  away  like  the 
extinguishing  of  a  light.  I  asked  her  if  she  knew 
anything  of  John  the  Baptist.  She  said  he  lived  in 
the  mountains  of  Judea  the  last  she  knew  of  him.. 
I  asked  her  if  he  and  Jesus  were  acquainted,  or  did 
they  visit.  She  said  she  did  not  think  they  knew 
each  other. 

"  I  asked  her  if  at  the  time  this  angel,  as  she 
called  him,  visited  her,  she  was  almah  (that  is,  vir- 
gin). She  said  she  was ;  that  she  had  never  showed 
to  man,  nor  was  known  by  any  man.  I  asked  her 


84  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

if  she  at  that  time  maintained  her  fourchetie;  and 
after  making  her  and  Joseph  understand  what  I 
meant,  they  both  said  she  had,  and  Joseph  said  this 
was  the  way  he  had  of  testing  her  virtue.  I  asked 
her  if  she  knew  when  conception  took  place.  She 
said  she  did  not.  I  asked  her  if  she  was  in  any  pain 
in  bearing,  or  in  delivering  this  child  She  said, 
'  None  of  any  consequence.'  I  asked  her  if  he  was 
healthy ;  to  give  me  a  description  of  his  life.  She 
said  he  was  perfectly  healthy ;  that  she  never  heard 
him  complain  of  any  pain  or  dissatisfaction ;  his 
food  always  agreed  with  him  ;  that  he  would  eat 
anything  set  before  him,  and  if  anyone  else  com- 
plained he  would  often  say  he  thought  it  good 
enough,  much  better  than  we  deserved.  She  said 
that  Joseph  was  a  little  hard  to  please,  but  this  boy 
had  answered  him  so  often,  and  his  answers  were 
so  mild  and  yet  so  suitable,  that  he  had  almost 
broken  him  of  finding  fault.  She  said- he  settled 
all  the  disputes  of  the  family ;  that  no  odds  what 
was  the  subject  or  who  it  was,  one  word  from  him 
closed  all  mouths,  and  what  gave  him  such  power 
was  his  words  were  always  unpretending  and  spoken 
as  though  they  were  not  intended  as  a  rebuke, 
but  merely  as  a  decision.  I  asked  her  if  she  had 
ever  seen  him  angry  or  out  of  humor.  She  said 
she  had  seen  him  apparently  vexed  and  grieved  at 
the  disputes  and  follies  of  others,  but  had  never  seen 
him  angry.  I  asked  her  if  he  had  any  worldly 
aspirations  after  money  or  wealth,  or  a  great  name, 
or  did  he  delight  in  fine  dress,  like  the  most  of 


^  *•  ^A  I.  TEL'S  INTER  VIEW.  85- 

youth.  She  said  that  was  o.^  thing  that  vexed 
her,  he  seemed  to  take  no  care  of  his  person  ;  he 
did  not  care  whether  he  was  dressed  or  not,  or 
whether  the  family  got  along  well  or  ill ;  it  was  all 
alike  to  him.  She  said  she  talked  to  him  about  it, 
and  he  would  look  at  her  a  little  grieved  and  say, 
'  Woman  (for  such  he  always  called  me),  you  do  not 
know  who  I  am.'  Indeed,  she  said  he  takes  so  little 
interest  in  the  things  of  the  world  and  the  great 
questions  of  the  day,  they  were  beginning  to  despair 
of  his  ever  amounting  to  much — much  less  be  a 
king,  as  the  angel  said  he  would  be ;  if  so,  he 
would  have  to  act  very  differently  from  what  he  was 
acting  at  that  time.  I  told  her  that  the  Jewish  doc- 
tors contended  that  the  amorous  disposition  is  pecu- 
liar to  the  male.  I  asked  her  if  she  had  ever  seen 
in  the  private  life  of  Jesus  any  signs  of  such  disposi- 
tion. She  said  she  had  not.  I  asked  if  she  saw  in  him 
any  particular  fondness  for  female  society.  She  said 
she  had  not ;  if  anything,  rather  the  contrary  ;  that 
the  young  bethaul  (the  word  in  the  Hebrew  for  young 
women)  were  all  very  fond  of  him,  and  were  always 
seeking  his  society,  and  yet  he  seemed  to  care  noth- 
ing for  them  ;  and  if  they  appeared  too  fond  of  him, 
he  treated  them  almost  with  scorn.  He  will  often 
get  up  and  leave  them,  and  wander  away  and  spend 
his  time  in  meditation  and  prayer.  He  is  a  perfect 
ascetic  in  his  life.  '  When  I  see  how  the  people 
like  to  be  with  him,  and  ask  him  questions,  and 
seem  to  take  such  delight  with  his  answers — both 
men  and  women — it  almost  vexes  me.  They  say 


86  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

there  is  a  young  woman  in  Bethany  whom  he  in- 
tends to  marry  ;  but  unless  he  changes  his  course 
very  much  he  will  never  be  qualified  to  have  a 
family.  But  I  do  not  believe  the  report.  He  never 
seems  to  me  to  care  anything  about  women  when  he 
is  in  my  presence.' 

"  Thus  it  seems  that  Joseph  and  Mary  have  both 
lost  all  confidence  in  his  becoming  anything  They 
seem  to  think  that  the  Sanhedrim  should  do  some- 
thing for  him  to  get  him  out  and  let  him  show 
himself  to  the  people.  I  tried  to  console  them  by 
telling  them  that  my  understanding  of  the  prophecy 
was  that  he  had  to  come  to  the  high  priesthood  first, 
and  there  work  in  the  spiritual  dominion  of  the 
heart ;  and  when  he  had  brought  about  a  unity  of 
heart  and  oneness  of  aim,  it  would  be  easy  enough 
to  establish  his  political  claim ;  and  all  who  would 
not  willingly  submit  to  him,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  with  the  sword  of  Joshua  or  Gideon  to  bring 
under  his  control.  Jt  seemed  to  me  that  his  parents' 
ideas  are  of  a  selfish  character ;  that  they  care 
nothing  about  the  Jewish  government  nor  the  Roman 
oppression.  All  they  think  of  is  self-exaltation,  and 
to  be  personally  benefited  by  their  son's  greatness. 
But  I  told  them  they  were  mistaken  ;  that  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  not  to  be  done  by 
might  nor  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord, 
and  it  would  not  do  for  us  to  use  carnal  weapons, 
nor  to  expect  carnal  pleasures  to  be  derived  there- 
from ;  that  it  was  not  my  understanding  of  the 
prophecy  that  this  king  was  to  use  such  weapons 


GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW.  87 

either  for  himself  or  for  the  benefit  of  a  party,  but 
for  the  good  of  all  men  ;  that  his  dominion  was  to 
be  universal,  and  it  was  to  be  of  a  spiritual  charac- 
ter ;  that  he  was  sent  to  the  lost  and  not  to  the 
found. 

"  His  parents  told  me  of  an  old  man  who  lived  on 
the  road  to  Bethany  who  had  once  been  a  priest,  a 
man  of  great  learning,  and  well  skilled  in  the  laws 
and  prophets,  and  that  Jesus  was  often  there  with 
him  reading  the  law  and  prophets  together ;  that  his 
name  was  Massalian,  and  that  I  might  find  Jesus 
there.  But  he  was  not  there.  Massalian  said  he 
was  often  at  Bethany  with  a  young  family,  and  he 
thought  there  was  some  love  affair  between  him  and 
one  of  the  girls.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  seen  any- 
thing like  a  courtship  between  them.  He  said  he 
had  not,  but  inferred  from  their  intimacy  and  from 
the  fondness  on  the  woman's  part,  as  well  as  from 
the  laws  of  nature,  that  such  would  be  the  case.  I 
asked  him  to  give  me  an  outline  of  the  character  of 
Jesus.  He  said  that  he  was  a  young  man  of  the 
finest  thought  and  feeling  he  ever  saw  in  his  life ; 
that  he  was  the  most  apt  in  his  answers  and  solu- 
tions of  difficult  problems  of  any  man  of  his  age  he 
had  ever  seen  ;  that  his  answers  seem  to  give  more 
universal  satisfaction — so  much  so  that  the  oldest 
philosopher  would  not  dispute  with  him,  or  in  any 
manner  join  issue  with  him,  or  ask  the  second  time. 
I  asked  Massalian  who  taught  him  to  read  and  in- 
terpret the  law  and  the  prophets.  He  said  that  his 
mother  said  that  he  had  always  known  how  to  read 


.88  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

the  law ;  that  his  mind  seemed  to  master  it  from 
the  beginning  ;  and  into  the  laws  of  nature  and  the 
relation  of  man  to  his  fellow  in  his  teachings  or 
talks,  he  gives  a  deeper  insight,  inspiring  mutual 
love  and  strengthening  the  common  trust  of  society. 
Another  plan  he  has  of  setting  men  right  with  the 
laws  of  nature  :  he  turns  nature  into  a  great  law  book 
of  illustrations,  showing  that  every  bush  is  a  flame, 
every  rock  a  fountain  of  water,  every  star  a  pillar 
of  fire,  and  every  cloud  the  one  that  leads  to  God. 
He  makes  all  nature  preach  the  doctrine  of  trust 
in  the  divine  "Fatherhood.  He  speaks  of  the  lilies 
as  pledges  of  God's  care,  and  points  to  the  fowls  as 
•evidence  of  his  watchfulness  over  human  affairs. 
Who  can  measure  the  distance  between  God  and 
the  flower  of  the  field  ?  What  connection  is  there 
between  man  and  the  lily  ?  By  such  illustrations 
he  creates  a  solicitude  in  man  that  seems  to  awe  him 
into  reverence,  and  he  becomes  attracted  toward 
heavenly  thought,  and  feels  that  he  is  in  the  presence 
of  one  that  is  superior.  In  this  talk  he  brings  one 
to  feel  he  is  very  near  the  presence  of  God.  He 
says  how  much  more  your  Father.  The  plane  is 
one,  though  the  intermediate  points  are  immeasur- 
ably distant.  Thus  by  beginning  with  a  flower  he 
reasons  upward  to  the  absolute,  and  then  descends 
and  teaches  lessons  of  trust  in  a  loving  Father. 
The  lessons  of  trust  in  God  reassure  the  anxious 
listener  and  create  an  appetite  that  makes  him  long 
for  more  ;  and  it  often  seems,  when  he  has  brought 
his  hearers  to  the  highest  point  of  anxiety,  he  sud- 


GAMALIEL'S  INTER  VIE W.  g 9 

^nly  breaks  off  and  leaves  his  company  as  though 
'•ed  nothing  for  them.  Jesus  in  his  talk  brings 
all  tiiL.se  illustrations  to  make  man  feel  his  near- 
ness to  his  kindred,  man,  teaching  also  their  relation 
to  and  dependence  upon  God  ;  and  although  his 
method  is  happy,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  it  is 
the  most  successful.  He  teaches  that  man  and  the 
flowers  and  birds  drink  from  the  same  fountain 
and  are  fed  from  the  same  table,  yet  at  the  same 
time  he  seems  to  do  everything  to  excite  suspicion 
and  prejudice.  We  that  are  watching  him  to  see 
his  divine  mission  commence,  he  is  continually  tan- 
talizing our  expectations,  as  well  as  mocking  our 
natural  reason  and  desires.  When  a  man  separates 
himself  from  all  other  men,  both  in  point  of  doctrine 
as  well  as  discipline,  he  takes  a  very  great  risk  on 
his  part — especially  when  he  confines  God  to  one 
channel,  and  that  one  of  his  own  dictation.  A  man 
that  assumes  these  responsible  positions  must  have 
vast  resources  from  which  to  draw,  or  he  will  sink  in 
the  whirlpool  which  his  own  impertinence  has  created. 
Through  Jesus,  in  his  teachings  or  talks  (his  words 
sound  so  much  like  the  teachings  of  Hillel  or  Sham- 
mai  that  I  must  call  it  teaching,  though  he  has  no 
special  scholars),  we  learn  that  God  is  Spirit,  and 
God  is  Father  ;  and  he  says  these  are  the  only  two 
things  that  are  essential  for  man  to  know.  Then  he 
illustrates  this  to  the  parents,  and  asks  them  what 
would  they  do  for  their  children.  He  was  telling 
some  mothers  a  circumstance  of  a  mother  starving 
herself  to  feed  her  child,  and  then  applied  it  to  God 


90  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

as  our  Father ;  and  they  commenced  shouting,  they 
were  so  happy ;  and  Jesus  got  up  and  left  the  house 
in  seeming  disgust. 

"  Massalian  says  he  is  tempted  at  times  to  become 
impatient  with  Jesus,  as  he  devotes  so  much  time  to 
details.  It  seems  almost  a  waste  of  time  for  a  man 
who  came  to  save  the  world  to  be  lingering  over  a 
special  case  of  disease.  He  thinks  he  could  hasten 
Jesus's  physical  deportment.  Why  not  speak  one  word 
and  remove  every  sick  patient  from  his  sick-  bed  at 
the  same  hour  ?  What  a  triumph  this  would  be. 
I  asked  him  if  Jesus  had  healed  anyone.  He  said 
not  as  yet ;  but  if  he  is  to  be  King  of  the  Jews, 
he  was  to  heal  all  nations,  and  why  not  do  it  at 
once  ?  If  he  would,  there  would  be  nothing  more 
required  to  establish  his  kingship.  But  I  said  to 
him,  '  Is  it  not  equally  so  with  God's  creative  power  ? 
See  what  time  and  labor  it  takes  to  bring  forth  a 
grain  of  corn.  Why  not  have  caused  the  earth  to 
bring  forth  every  month  instead  of  every  year? 
Christ  was  talking  in  defence  of  his  Father.  The 
people  must  learn  to  love  and  obey  the  Father  before 
they  would  reverence  the  Son.  Yes,  he  said  the 
God  that  Jesus  represented  was  one  that  the  people 
might  love  and  venerate ;  that  he  was  a  God  of  love, 
and  had  no  bloody  designs  to  execute  on  even  a  bad 
man,  provided  he  ceased  his  evil  ways.' 

"  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  all  Jesus's  talk  there 
are  manifest  references  to  the  future.  Many  of 
his  statements  were  like  a  sealed  letter — not  to  be 
opened  but  by  time.  A  grain  of  mustard  was  to 


GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW.  91 

result  in  a  large  tree.  All  his  ideas  refer  to  the 
future  ;  like  the  parent  helping  the  child  with  his 
burden  of  to-day,  by  telling  of  the  blessings  of  to- 
morrow ;  and  by  making  to-day  the  seed-corn  of  to- 
morrow ;  keeping  the  action  of  to-day  under  moral 
control  by  making  the  morrow  the  day  of  judgment. 
He  stated  further  that  Jesus  was  a  young  man  Avho 
was  the  best  judge  of  human  nature  he  had  ever  seen  ; 
that  he  thqught  at  times  he  could  tell  men  their 
thoughts  and  expose  their  bad  principles  ;  and  while 
he  had  all  these  advantages  of  life,  he  seemed  not 
to  care  for  them  nor  to  use  them  abusively.  He 
seems  to  like  all  men — one  as  well  as  another — so 
much  so  that  his  own  parents  have  become  disgusted 
with  him,  and  have  almost  cast  him  off.  But  Jesus 
has  such  a  peculiar  temperament  that  he  seems  not 
to  care,  and  is  as  well  satisfied  with  one  as  another. 
He  said  that  Jesus  seemed  fond  of  Mary  and  Martha, 
who  lived  at  Bethany,  and  probably  I  might  find 
him  there. 

"  Massalian  is  a  man  of  very  deep  thought  and 
most  profound  judgment.  All  his  life  he  has  made 
the  Scriptures  his  study.  He,  too,  is  a  good  judge 
of  human  nature,  and  he  is  satisfied  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ.  He  said  that  Jesus  seemed  to  understand 
the  prophecy  by  intuition.  I  asked  him  where  Jesus 
was  taught  to  read  the  prophecy.  He  said  that  his 
mother  told  him  that  Jesus  could  read  from  the  be- 
ginning ;  that  no  one  had  ever  taught  him  to  read. 
He  said  that  he,  in  making  quotations  from  the 
prophets,  was  sometimes  mistaken  or  his  memory 


92  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

failed  him  ;  but  Jesus  could  correct  him  every  time 
without  the  scroll ;  and  that  sometimes  he  thought 
Jesus  was  certainly  mistaken,  but  never  in  a  single 
instance  was  he  wrong.  I  asked  him  to  describe  his 
person  to  me,  so  that  I  might  know  him  if  I  should 
meet  him.  He  said  :  '  If  you  ever  meet  him  you 
will  know  him.  While  he  is  nothing  but  a  man, 
there  is  something  about  him  that  distinguishes  him 
from  every  other  man.  He  is  the  picture  of  his 
mother,  only  he  has  not  her  smooth,  round  face. 
His  hair  is  a  little  more  golden  than  hers,  though  it 
is  as  much  from  sunburn  as  anything  else.  He  is 
tall,  and  his  shoulders  are  a  little  drooped  ;  his  vis- 
age is  thin  and  of  a  swarthy  complexion,  though  this 
is  from  exposure.  His  eyes  are  large  and  a  soft  blue, 
and  rather  dull  and  heavy.  The  lashes  are  long,  and 
his  eyebrows  very  large.  His  nose  is  that  of  a  Jew. 
In  fact,  he  reminds  me  of  an  old-fashioned  Jew  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  He  is  not  a  great  talker, 
unless  there  is  something  brought  up  about  heaven 
and  divine  things,  when  his  tongue  moves  glibly 
and  his  eyes  light  up  with  a  peculiar  brilliancy  ; 
though  there  is  this  peculiarity  about  Jesus,  he 
never  argues  a  question  ;  he  never  disputes.  He 
will  commence  and  state  facts,  and  they  are  on 
such  a  solid  basis  that  nobody  will  have  the  bold- 
ness to  dispute  with  him.  Though  he  has  such 
mastership  of  judgment,  he  takes  no  pride  in  con- 
futing his  opponents,  but  always  seems  to  be  sorry 
for  them.  I  have  seen  him  attacked  by  the  scribes 
and  doctors  of  the  law,  and  they  seemed  like  little 


GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW.  93 

children  learning  their  lessons  under  a  master.  His 
strongest  points  are  in  the  spiritual  power  of  the 
law  and  the  intentions  of  the  prophets.  The  young 
people  tried  to  get  him  to  take  a  class  of  them  and 
teach  them  ;  but  he  utterly  refused.'  This  Jew  is 
convinced  that  he  is  the  Messiah  of  the  world. 

"  I  went  from  there  to  Bethany,  but  Jesus  was  not 
there.  They  said  he  and  Lazarus  were  away,  they 
could  not  tell  where.  I  went  and  saw  Mary  and 
Martha,  the  sisters  of  Lazarus,  and  had  a  long  talk 
with  them.  They  are  very  pleasant  and  nice  young 
maids,  and  Mary  is  quite  handsome.  I  teased  her 
about  Jesus,  but  they  both  denied  that  Jesus  was 
anything  like  a  lover ;  he  was  only  a  friend  ;  though 
this  is  so  common  for  young  maids  I  did  not  know 
whether  to  believe  them  or  not  until  I  told  them  my 
real  business.  And  when  I  told  them  that  this  was 
the  same  person  that  was  born  of  the  virgin  in  Beth- 
lehem some  twenty- six  years  before,  and  that  his 
mother  had  told  me  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  they 
seemed  deeply  interested.  They  then  told  me  upon 
their  honor  that  Jesus  never  talked  or  even  hinted 
to  either  one  of  them  on  the  subject  of  marriage. 
Martha  blushed,  and  said  she  wished  he  had.  If 
he  was  to  be  a  king,  she  would  like  to  be  queen. 
I  asked  them  if  they  had  ever  seen  him  in  the 
company  of  young  virgins.  They  said  they  had 
not.  I  asked  them  if  they  had  heard  him  talk 
about  young  girls,  or  if  he  sought  their  society  more 
than  that  of  men  ;  and  they  both  declared  they  had 
not ;  and  they  were  very  much  surprised  that  he  did 


94  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

not.  I  asked  them  what  he  talked  of  when  in  their 
company  ;  and  they  said  he  was  not  much  in  their 
company  ;  that  he  and  their  brother  would  go  upon 
the  house-top  and  stay  there  half  the  night,  and 
sometimes  all  night,  talking  and  arguing  points  of 
interest  to  them  both.  Mary  said  she  had  often  gone 
near,  so  she  could  listen  to  them,  for  she  loved  to 
hear  him  talk,  he  was  so  mild  and  unpretending, 
and  then  was  so  intelligent  that  he  Avas  different 
from  any  and  all  other  young  men  she  had  ever  seen. 
I  asked  them  what  was  their  brother's  opinion  of 
him.  They  said  he  thought  there  never  was  such  a 
man  on  earth.  He  thought  him  to  be  one  of  God's 
prophets.  He  said  when  they  are  out  in  the  moun- 
tains, as  they  are  most  all  the  time,  Jesus  can  tell 
him  all  about  the  flowers,  trees,  and  rocks,  can  tell 
him  everything  in  the  world,  and  that  none  of  the 
wild  animals  are  afraid  of  him.  He  says  often  the 
stag  and  the  wolf  will  come  and  stand  for  Jesus  to 
stroke  their  mane,  and  seem  almost  loath  to  go  away 
from  him.  He  says  that  no  poisonous  serpent  will 
offer  to  hiss  at  him.  Their  brother  thinks  he  is  per- 
fectly safe  if  Jesus  is  with  him.  I  asked  them  if  he 
had  ever  told  their  brother  anything  about  himself. 
They  said  that  if  he  had  spoken  to  their  brother  he 
had  not  told  them. 

"  Now,  Masters  of  Israel,  after  having  inves- 
tigated this  matter  ;  after  tracing  Jesus  from  his 
conception  to  the  present  time ;  after  obtaining  all 
the  information  that  is  to  be  had  on  this  important 
subject,  getting  it  from  those  who  are  more  likely 


GAMALIEL'S  INTER  VIE  W.  95 

to  tell  the  truth  from  the  fact  they  are  disinterested 
persons  ;  and  then  taking  a  prophetical  as  well  as  a 
historical  view  of  the  subject.  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  this  is  the  Christ  that  we  are  looking  for. 
And  as  a  reason  for  my  conclusion,  I  will  call  your 
attention  to  the  following  facts  :  First  to  the  proph- 
ecy of  Isaiah,  section  7  :  '  And  he  said,  Hear  now, 
saith  the  Lord.  Oh,  house  of  David,  is  it  a  small 
thing  for  you  ?  Therefore  the  Lord  himself  shall 
give  you  a  sign  ;  behold,  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and 
bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name  God  with  men. 
Butter  and  honey  shall  he  eat,  that  he  may  know  to 
refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good ;  for  before  the 
child  shall  know  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the 
good  the  land  that  God  abhorrest  shall  be  forsaken 
of  her  king.'  Section  8  :  '  Bind  the  testimony  ;  seal 
the  law  among  his  disciples  ;  the  Lord  will  hide  his 
face  from  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  he  will  look  for 
him.'  Here  is  a  literal  fulfillment  of  this  word  of 
the  Most  High  God,  so  clear  and  plain  that  none 
may  mistake.  Jeremiah,  31st  section  :  '  Turn,  oh 
virgin,  to  thy  people,  for  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is 
upon  thee  ;  for  the  Lord  shall  create  a  new  thing  in 
the  earth  ;  a  woman  shall  compass  a  man.'  Here 
again  are  set  foi'th  the  same  things  that  Isaiah  speaks 
of,  and  the  same  things  that  I  have  learned  from 
Mary.  Micah,  section  5  :  '  Thou,  Bethlehem  Ephra- 
tah,  thou  art  little  among  the  thousands  of  Judah  ; 
out  of  thee  shall  come  forth  unto  me  him  that  shall 
rule  my  people.  He  is  from  everlasting ;  and  I  will 
give  them  up  until  the  time  she  travaileth  to  bring 


96  GAMALIEL'S  INTERVIEW. 

forth  my  first  born,  that  he  may  rule  all  people.' 
Here  we  have  the  city,  the  virgin,  the  office,  his 
manner  of  life,  the  seeking  him  by  the  Sanhedrim. 
All  these  things  are  under  our  eyes  as  full  and  com- 
plete as  I  now  write  them,  who  have  all  this  testi- 
mony given  in  this  letter.  How  can  we  as  a  people 
dispute  these  things  ?  In  the  49th  section  of  Genesis, 
making  reference  to  the  history,  that  is  now  upon  us, 
the  writer  says :  '  A  captive  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah,  nor  a  lawmaker  from  him,  until  Shiloh  come, 
and  gather  his  people  between  his  feet,  and  keep 
them  forever.'  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

REPORT    OF    CAIAPHAS    TO    THE    SANHEDRIM    CON- 
CERNING  THE    EXECUTION    OF   JESUS. 

RECORDS  OF  THE  JERUSALEM  SANHEDRIM,  BY  ELIEZEK  HYKAN,  B.  24. 
TAKEN  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE,  OCTOBER  16,  1883. 

"  Caiaphas,  Priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  to  the 
Masters  of  Israel,  greeting:  In  obedience  to  your 
demands  for  a  reason  for  my  action  in  the  case  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  in  defense  of  my  conduct,  I 
beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  for  your  consider- 
ation :  I  would  assure  you  that  it  was  not  on  account 
of  personal  malice,  envy,  or  hate,  that  existed  in  my 
own  nature,  nor  for  the  want  of  a  willingness  upon 
my  part  to  conform  to  the  Jewish  law  in  its  strictest 
sense.  I  had  but  very  little  personal  knowledge  of 
the  Nazarene.  The  most  I  knew  of  this  man  was 
from  outside  sources.  Nor  was  it  because  he  claimed 
to  be  King  of  the  Jews,  nor  because  he  said  he  was 
the  Son  of  God — I  would  that  he  were — nor  because 
he  prophesied  or  ignored  the  holy  temple.  No,  nor 
all  of  these  combined.  There  is  a  cause,  and  a  more 
weighty  matter,  back  of  all  these  things  that  con- 
trolled my  action  in  the  matter.  Therefore,  I  hope 
you  will  investigate  strictly  on  legal  principles  the 
reasons  that  I  may  give 

7  (97) 


9  8  THE  A  R  CHKO  VOL  UME. 

"  In  order  that  you  may  be  able  to  see  and  weigh 
the  question  fully,  and  remember  the  responsibility 
that  rests  upon  me  according  to  the  laws  of  our  na- 
tion, I  will  ask  you  to  go  back  with  me  to  the  chron- 
icles of  our  history  as  a  commonwealth.  First,  our 
faith  is  pledged  to  one  living  and  true  God,  this  God 
being  indescribable,  unchangeable,  incomprehensi- 
ble, and,  of  course,  unnameable.  But  yet  in  our 
daily  communications  with,  and  our  applications  to 
Him,  He  has  been  pleased  to  give  us  His  name,  or 
His  several  names,  according  to  His  relations  to  us, 
and  they  are  found  nowhere,  only  in  the  ark  of  His 
holy  temple — there  where  He  presents  to  us  His 
strength  and  power.  He  calls  himself  Eloi,  which 
means  almighty  in  strength  ;  that  He  can  do  what 
He  will  without  effort ;  that  He  does  the  greatest 
thing  as  easy  as  He  does  the  least.  This  mak  es  Him 
different  from  all  beings.  In  His  holy  ark  He  re- 
cords Himself  Elaah — existence  without  beginning, 
and  no  contingency  as  to  His  end.  Again,  He  writes 
Himself  Hhelejon — unchangeable  ;  that  is,  nothing 
but  His  own  will  can  change  Him.  Again,  He  re- 
cords His  name  Jah — knowledge  that  comprehends 
without  being  comprehended.  Again  He  is  written 
Adonai — full  and  free,  and  freely  full.  Combining 
the  several  names  we  have  Jehovah — the  Hebrew 
God.  A  man  never  can  go  wrong  while  he  can  pro- 
nounce this  name  in  its  comprehensive  sense.  This 
is  where  the  Zealots,  the  Sadducees,  and  Essenes  had 
their  origin,  and  it  is  the  want  of  being  able  to  pro- 
nounce this  name  in  its  comprehensive  sense  that 


EEPOR1  OF  CAIAPHAS.  99 

causes  so  much  dissension  among  us  Jews.  Jesus 
could  pronounce  this  name,  but  he  stole  it  out  of 
the  temple,  as  I  am  creditably  informed. 

"  But  the  object  in  calling  your  attention  to  pro- 
nouncing this  name,  with  all  its  bearings,  may  be 
seen  if  we  turn  to  the  third  Book  of  Leviticus,  sec- 
tion 10,  wherein  is  the  special  order  made  by  our 
God  to  Moses,  that  we  should  offer  the  bullock,  the 
ram,  the  flour  and  oil,  and  the  people  should  fast 
seven  days,  and  this  should  be  kaphar,  or  atone- 
ment for  the  sins  of  all  the  people.  Now,  unless 
Moses  was  deceived,  he  has  deceived  us,  or  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  is  a  false  teacher ;  for  all  he  teaches  is 
metanoeite,  metanoeite,  as  though  a  man's  being  sorry 
for  a  crime  would  make  restitution  to  the  offended 
party.  A  man  might  repent  ever  so  much,  but  what 
good  would  that  do  toward  healing  the  man  he  had 
injured  ?  None  in  the  least.  This  mode  of  making 
atonement  was  ordained  of  God  and  revealed  to 
Moses  ;  but  if  man  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  repent, 
the  disease  carries  its  own  remedy  with  it.  So  a  man 
can  sin  as  often  as  he  may  wish  to.  Look  at  the 
first  book,  section  3  :  '  And  God  said  to  Abraham, 
by  his  own  mouth,  that  each  and  all  that  were  cir- 
cumcised by  the  cutting  of  the  prepuce  should  be 
saved.'  This  should  be  the  seal  of  the  covenant. 
Now,  if  this  is  not  true,  God  must  go  against  His  own 
contract,  violate  His  own  promises,  as  well  as  deceive 
the  faith  and  cheat  the  obedience  of  His  own  chil- 
dren. This  is  all  so,  if  Jesus's  teaching  be  true,  for  he 
sets  up  table  (baptism)  as  the  seal  of  God.  I  refer 


100  THE  ARGHKO  VOLUME. 

you  to  section  10,  division  first,  where  God  said  to 
Moses  that  He  had  changed  the  laws,  converted  the 
elements  for  the  protection  of  His  people,  and  with 
His  own  arm  had  delivered  them  out  of  a  strong 
compact ;  and  that  they  might  remember,  and  that 
the  generation  to  be  born  might  remember  and  never 
forget  to  trust  in  Him  when  in  danger,  He  said  that 
once  every  year  we  should  roast  a  kid  or  lamb,  and 
eat  it  with  unleavened  bread,  and  this  should  be  the 
sign  that  we  would  trust  in  Him  in  all  times  of  dan- 
ger. Now  Jesus  teaches  that  common  bread  and 
wine  are  to  be  used  instead  thereof — a  thing  unheard 
of.  And  not  only  so,  something  that  is  altogether 
repugnant  to  God,  and  something  that  fosters  drunk- 
enness, and  is  well  qualified  to  excite  men's  passions. 
And  oh,  ye  Masters  of  Israel,  but  think  once.  Jesus 
calls  himself  the  Son  of  God  ;  claims  to  have  been 
born  of  almah  (the  Hebrew  word  for  virgin) ;  that 
he  and  his  Father  are  one — they  are  equal.  These 
things  will  establish  the  following  conclusions  :  If 
he  is  right,  his  Father  is  false.  If  they  were  one, 
then  their  teachings  would  be  one ;  and  if  his 
teachings  are  true,  God's  must  be  wrong,  or  there 
are  not  those  perfections  in  Him  that  we  learn 
in  pronouncing  His  holy  name.  By  tolerating  the 
teachings  of  Jesus,  we  say  to  the  Romans  that  all  of 
our  former  teachings  are  false ;  that  the  Hebrew's 
God  is  not  to  be  trusted  ;  that  He  is  weak,  wanting 
in  forethought ;  that  He  is  vacillating  and  not  to  be 
trusted,  much  less  to  be  honored  and  obeyed.  Thus 
the  world  will  lose  confidence  in  our  God,  and  confi- 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  101 

dence  in  us  as  a  religious  people.  This  is  impregnat- 
ing  the  whole  atmosphere  with  moral  pollution.  It 
does  not  only  cut  off,  but  blocks  the  way  of  all  Jews 
from  heaven  ;  and  not  only  this,  it  excludes  our  hope 
in  the  salvation  of  our  forefathers,  who  have  obeyed 
God  in  His  ordinances,  believed  in  His  promises,  and 
shouted  in  the  triumphs  of  a  holy  life  for  fourteen 
hundred  years.  He  entirely  ignores  God's  holy  temple 
— the  house  God  had  built  by  our  forefathers  under 
His  own  supervision, where  He  promised  to  dwell  with 
His  children,  to  hear  their  prayers,  and  to  be  pleased 
with  their  sacrifices.  This  tern  pi  3  is  the  bond  of  the 
Jews.  Here  all  men  can  come  and  be  blessed.  It 
is  the  earthly  home  of  the  souls  of  men — the  place 
where  men  may  hide  from  the  storms  of  sin  and  per- 
secution. This  temple  is  where  the  foolish  may  learn 
wisdom,  the  place  where  the  naked  soul  can  be 
clothed,  and  where  the  hungry  may  be  fed.  This 
the  grandest  gift  of  our  Father.  Jesus  completely 
ignores  this  temple ;  says  the  priests  have  made  it  a 
den  of  thieves ;  and  sets  up  a  sneer,  and  even  scoffs 
at  its  sacred  ordinances,  and  with  a  sort  of  selfish 
triumph  says  it  shall  be  destroyed ;  and  from  hi» 
manner  of  saying  it,  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  be 
glad  to  see  it  quickly  done.  But  what  would  be  the- 
condition  of  our  people  if  this  temple  was  removed  ? 
What  would  be  the  use  of  the  priesthood  if  the  temple 
was  destroyed?  Where  would  we  find  an  answer 
by  IT  rim  and  Thummim?  How  would  the  soul  of 
man  be  purified,  if  the  holy  Bathkole,  the  Euroch  of 
God,  shoidd  depart  ?  There  in  that  sacred  temple  of 


102  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

God  he  has  been  burning  to  the  consuming  of  sin 
and  the  purifying  of  the  heart  since  our  return  from 
bondage  in  Babylon.  My  argument  is,  if  this  tem- 
ple is  destroyed,  or  even  forsaken  by  the  Jews,  we  as  a 
nation  are  utterly  ruined.  We  might  as  well  put  our 
necks  under  the  feet  of  idolatry  and  give  up  all  hope. 
"  One  more  subject  I  place  before  my  Masters  of 
Israel.  Is  it  compatible  with  our  religion,  or  is  it 
consistent  with  philosophy,  or  admitted  in  His  holy 
Word,  that  there  can  be  more  gods  than  one  ?  When 
we  pronounce  Ele  Laah  Shaddiai-Hhelyon  Adonai 
(which  is  Jehovah),  there  can  be  but  one  living  God. 
By  reference  to  section  6,  No.  four,  He  says  by  mouth 
of  Moses,  when  he  was  all  aglow  with  the  glory  of  God 
— and  remember  He  speaks  either  by  mouth  or  quill ; 
it  is  He  that  speaks,  and  not  man — He  says,  '  The 
Lord  your  God  is  one  God ;  there  can  be  but  one. 
I  am  and  have  been  with  you  ;  I  brought  you  up ;  I 
delivered  you  out  of  a  strong  compact ;  I  delivered 
you  out  of  their  hand  and  kept  you  dry,  while  your 
enemies  were  drowned  in  the  sea.  I  will  not  forsake 
you.  I  promised  your  father  I  would  not.  But  if 
you  forsake  Me,  then  desolation  will  come  upon  you, 
and  have  you  in  swift  destruction.'  In  section  5, 
three  and  four  of  David's  Song  of  Joy  :  '  I  am  God 
alone.  If  I  turn  to  the  right  or 'to  the  left,  if  I  go 
down  into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  or  into  the  centre 
of  the  earth,  or  over  the  heavens,  I  should  find  no 
companion.'  In  section  3  He  says  :  '  I  am  God  alone, 
and  alone  I  am  God  ;  beside  Me  there  is  no  help  for 
man  nor  angels.'  Then  in  section  13,  this  command 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  103 

has  been  given  :  '  Thou  shall  pay  to  the  Lord  thy 
God  once  a  year  a  half-shekel  of  silver,  that  thou  and 
thy  children,  and  all  the  strangers  that  are  within 
thy  gate,  may  know  that  there  is  no  God  beside  Me, 
on  whom  they  may  call  in  time  of  danger.'  Now, 
having  all  these  commands  and  teachings  from  the 
very  lips  of  God  himself  before  my  eyes,  and  being 
held  responsible  for  the  soundness  of  our  doctrine 
and  the  proper  inculcation  of  the  same  among  the 
people  of  the  Jews,  what  was  I  to  do?  Could  I 
stand  as  the  priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  and  see 
your  blessed  religion  perverted  by  an  impostor  ? 
Could  I  stand  and  see  the  holy  temple  of  our  God 
deserted  and  forsaken  ?  Could  I  stand  and  see  all 
the  holy  ordinances,  which  had  been  appointed  by 
our  God  for  securing  salvation  to  Israel,  perverted 
by  an  impostor  ?  All  the  blessed  doctrines  that  were 
appointed  for  the  government  and  instruction  of  the 
priesthood,  thence  to  be  imparted  to  the  youth  of  our 
land,  set  aside,  and  that  by  one  that  could  show  no 
authority,  only  the  authority  of  John  the  Baptist, 
who  could  give  no  authority  only  the  one  who  sent 
him  to  baptize,  and  he  could  not  tell  who  he  was,  nor 
whence  he  came  ?  Hence  you  can  see  the  responsible 
position  that  I  as  the  high  priest  of  God  and  of  the 
Jewish  Church  occupied.  According  to  our  laws  I 
was  made  responsible,  and  stood  between  my  God  and 
my  people,  to  protect  them  in  -doctrine  and  govern- 
ment. I  refer  you  to  the  capitulation  made  by  the 
Sanhedrim  and  Augustus  Caesar,  in  the  holy  Tosephta 
of  the  Talmuds.  We  submitted  to  taxation  by  the 


104  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Romans,  and  the  Romans  are  to  protect  our  holy 
religion  from  foreign  foes,  in  order  that  the  holy 
temple  or  any  of  its  sacred  ordinances  should  never 
be  molested,  nor  the  holy  city,  Jerusalem,  be  polluted 
by  Roman  idolatry.  Now  the  insinuating  plan 
adopted  by  Jesus  was  well  qualified  to  deceive  the 
common  people.  It  had  already  led  many  to  forsake 
the  temple,  and  hold  her  ordinances  in  derision,  as 
well  as  to  neglect  the  teachings  of  the  priest  or  to 
pay  the  tithes  for  their  supplies.  He  had  already 
inculcated  into  the  Jewish  mind  his  pernicious  ways 
of  being  saved  to  that  extent  that  the  Jewish  cause 
was  almost  lost.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this : 
First,  the  people  to  whom  he  preached  were  an  ignor- 
ant set,  and  knew  but  very  little  about  doctrine  of 
any  kind.  They  are  a  restless  sort  of  men,  who  are 
always  finding  fault  and  wanting  something  new,  and 
never  associate  with  the  more  enlightened  part  of  the 
community  in  order  to  learn.  Another  reason  of 
his  having  many  followers  is,  his  doctrines  are  con- 
genial to  unsanctified  flesh.  They  are  so  suited  to 
human  nature  that  they  require  no  sacrifices ;  they 
need  not  go  to  the  temple  to  worship  God  ;  they 
need  not  fast,  and  they  can  when  and  where  they 
please ;  they  need  pay  no  tithes  to  keep  up  the  tem- 
ple or  the  priesthood,  but  every  man  can  be  his  own 
priest  and  worship  God  as  he  chooses.  All  this  is  so 
compatible  with  human  nature  that,  although  he  has 
not  been  preaching  over  three  years,  he  has  more  fol- 
lowers to-day  than  Abraham  has,  and  they  have  be- 
come perfectly  hostile  toward  the  Jews  that  are  faith- 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  105 

ful  to  their  God  ;  and,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
Roman  soldiers,  on  the  day  of  his  execution  we  would 
have  had  one  of  the  bloodiest  insurrections  ever 
known  to  the  Jewish  commonwealth.  I  am  told 
that  there  was  never  seen  such  a  concourse  of  people 
assembled  at  Jerusalem  as  at  the  cross.  One  of  my 
guards  informs  me  that  there  were  several  hundred 
thousand,  and,  although  there  were  two  others  cru- 
cified at  the  same  time,  Jesus  was  the  great  centre  of 
attraction.  They  would  call  out,  '  Who  is  this  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  ?  What  is  his  crime  ?'  Some  of  his 
friends  would  cry  out, '  Nothing ;  he  is  being  executed 
because  he  was  a  friend  to  the  poor.'  '  Take  him 
down  !  Take  him  down,'  they  would  cry  out,  and 
the  soldiers  would  have  to  use  their  spears  to  keep 
them  back.  But  when  he  yielded  up  the  ghost  he 
proved  to  all  that  he  was  hypostatical  (that  is,  a 
human  body),  and  the  lodi  curios  had  come  from 
the  iclandic  covenant,  and  his  trinitatis  unitas  was 
all  a  sham,  for  how  could  this  unpronounced  name 
suffer  or  be  captured  by  men,  or  die,  unless  he  is  the 
one  that  is  to  die  for  the  many  ?  And  if  so,  I  was 
only  accomplishing  God's  holy  purposes,  which  ex- 
onerates me  from  guilt. 

"  But  it  seems  to  me  a  necessity  that  he  should  be 
removed.  That  this  may  be  evident  to  your  minds, 
I  ask  you  to  contrast  our  present  condition  with  the 
past.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  spent  two  years  in  Egypt 
under  the  instruction  of  Rabbi  Joshua,  and  learned 
the  art  of  thaumaturgy  to  perfection,  as  has  never 
been  taught  in  any  of  the  schools  of  necromancy 


106  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

among  the  heathen.  If  the  healing  miracles  of  Jesus 
are  true,  as  they  must  be  (for  they  are  so  acknowledged 
by  his  foes  as  well  as  his  friends),  he  must  have 
learned  it  from  Horus  and  Serapis,  as  practised  by 
those  heathen  priests.  He  came  back  to  Palestine 
as  a  physician,  and  was  by  nature  an  enthusiast  as 
well  as  a  Hebrew  patriarch,  and  when  John's  preach- 
ing excited  idealistic  minds,  Jesus  also  went  to  that 
teacher,  and  was  inspired  by  him  to  inculcate  and 
promulgate  his  doctrines.  Notwithstanding  his 
youth  and  inexperience,  Jesus  started  out  as  a  pub- 
lic orator  and  teacher  with  the  doctrines  of  John, 
and  in  that  capacity  referred  exclusively  to  his  au- 
thority, as  every  public  teacher  in  these  days  has  to 
be  ordained  by  some  acknowledged  authority.  As 
long  as  John  was  at  large,  Jesus  in  the  capacity  of 
an  itinerant  teacher  and  physician  roused  the  people 
of  Galilee  to  meianoia  (repentance  of  sin),  to  bring 
about  a  restoration  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He 
met  with  the  same  opposition  that  John  did  from 
those  who  would  not  admit  that  they  were  more  sin- 
ful than  their  progenitors  were,  or  that  asceticism 
was  the  proper  means  for  the  restoration  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  But  he  met  with  the  same  success 
among  the  lower  classes,  such  as  foreign  harlots, 
Sodomites,  publicans,  and  other  Roman  agents,  but 
the  intelligent  portion  remained  cold  and  unmoved 
by  his  enthusiasm.  The  cures  which  he  performed 
appeared  miraculous  to  his  followers,  but  most  ridic- 
ulous to  the  intelligent  Jews  and  men  of  sober  and 
reflective  minds. 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  107 

"  Jesus  embraced  the  humanitarian  doctrine  of 
the  Hillelites,  presenting  conspicuously  the  cosmo- 
politan spirit  of  Judaism,  and  he  did  it  almost  in 
the  words  of  Hillel,  who  had  taught  it  before.  Their 
faith  and  doctrine  being  alike,  it  was  not  hard  for 
him  to  create  excitement,  or  to  find  plenty  of  follow- 
ers. In  addition  to  all  this,  he  taught  a  system  of 
low  morals,  and  so  void  of  all  ritualistic  ideas  that 
it  was  easy  for  him  to  get  any  number  of  followers. 
He  taught  the  people  that  there  was  but  one  living 
and  true  God,  but  he  taught  them  that  he  was  that 
God,  and  that  his  father  was  merged  into  himself, 
and  could  not  manifest  himself  only  through  him, 
which  theory  would  confute  itself  if  they  would  only 
stop  to  reflect,  for  as  he  was  hypostatical  or  corpo- 
real, his  assistance  was  cut  off  from  all  that  was  not 
immediately  in  his  presence,  which  is  altogether  in- 
compatible with  the  faith  of  the  Jews.  Right  in  the 
face  of  this  doctrine  he  would  teach  that  there  was 
a  special  providence,  as  well  as  a  general  providence, 
as  if  there  could  be  a  general  providence  without  a 
God  that  could  be  present  in  all  places  at  all  times, 
as  we  learn  in  pronouncing  His  name.  He  taught 
that  the  dead  will  rise  and  live  again  in  a  future  state 
of  happiness  or  misery  according  as  they  have  lived 
here.  Therefore  he  taught  future  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments ;  but  he  being  present,  how  could  he  reward 
in  the  future  ?  He  taught  the  revelation  and  the 
prophets,  but  contradicted  all  they  teach.  He  taught 
the  election  of  Israel  by  the  Almighty,  but  ignored 
all  the  doctrines  of  Israel.  He  taught  the  eternity 


108  THE  ARCHKO   VOLUME. 

of  God's  laws,  and  promises  in  the  super-importance 
of  the  humanitarian  over  the  ritual  laws  and  doc- 
trines, but  I  do  not  think  he  wished  to  abolish  the 
latter,  or  even  the  traditional  laws,  but  merely  to 
supersede  them  by  a  higher  life.  The  natural  result 
of  all  this  was  that  he  disregarded  the  laws  of  Levit- 
ical  cleanness,  which  were  considered  so  important 
by  the  Shammaites  and  Essenes,  and  also  by  the 
Hillelites.  This  is  the  point  where  division  com- 
menced, and  the  breach  grew  wider  and  wider  until 
an  insurrection  must  have  been  the  result.  He  so 
far  cut  himself  loose  from  the  Jews  that  he  ate  with 
unclean  sinners,  publicans,  and  lepers,  and  permitted 
harlots  to  touch  him,  while  his  disciples  went  so  far 
as  to  eat  their  meals  without  washing  themselves. 
Furthermore,  he  looked  upon  the  whole  of  the  Leviti- 
cal  institutions,  temples,  sacrifices,  and  priesthood  in- 
cluded, as  no  longer  necessary  and  not  worth  the  life 
of  the  animal.  This  was  certainly  the  opinion  of 
the  Hillelites.  Jesus,  it  seems,  found  in  this  Hillelite 
school  a  party  furnished  to  hand,  ready  to  take  up 
with  his  heresy  (and  a  large  party  they  are,  almost 
sufficient  to  divide  the  whole  Jewish  commonwealth). 
They  taught  the  repentance  of  sin,  the  practice  of 
benevolence  and  charity,  the  education  of  the  young, 
and  good-will  toward  mankind,  as  possessing  much 
more  moral  worth  than  all  the  Levitical  cleanness, 
or  compliance  with  the  whole  moral  law  given  to  us 
by  our  God  to  govern  us.  His  preaching  was  of 
the  parabolical  style.  He  would  rely  on  a  text  of 
scripture,  for  he  seemed  to  hold  the  scriptures  in  high 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  109 

veneration,  so  his  preaching  was  on  the  midrash  style 
of  the  scribes — a  maxim  expressed  in  the  style  of 
Solon  or  of  Sirach's  son.  His  great  object  was  to 
come  as  near  the  Jewish  theology  as  possible  so  as  to 
destroy  the  Jews'  entirely,  and  establish  his  own. 
Hence  he  resorted  to  the  allegorical  method  of  the 
Egyptian  Hebrews,  uttering  many  good  and  wise 
sayings,  which  were  not  new  to  the  learned,  but 
which  were  taken  from  the  common  wisdom  of  the 
country,  which  was  known  by  all  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  literature  of  the  rabbis.  But 
they  were  new  to  his  class  of  hearers,  who  were  not 
accustomed  to  listen  to  the  wise.  He  had  no  educa- 
tion, comparatively  speaking.  He  was  full  of  ner- 
vous excitement,  all  of  which  went  to  inspire  his 
hearers  with  enthusiasm.  He  took  but  little  care  of 
his  health  or  person  ;  cared  not  for  his  own  relatives. 
He  travelled  mostly  on  foot  in  the  company  of  his 
disciples  and  some  suspicious  women,  and  lived  on 
the  charity  of  his  friends.  He  seemed  to  take  no 
notice  of  the  political  affairs  of  his  country  ;  would 
as  soon  be  governed  by  one  nation  as  another.  In 
fact,  it  seemed  if  he  had  any  preference  it  was  for 
the  Romans.  It  seems  that  he  became  so  infatuated 
that  he  really  thought  he  was  the  head  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  This  manner  of  preaching,  along 
with  his  presumption,  aroused  his  enemies  to  a  pow- 
erful pitch,  and  it  was  all  I  could  do  to  keep  the 
zealots  from  mobbing  him  in  the  temple.  They  had 
no  confidence  in  a  doctrine  that  set  the  Jewish  laws 
at  naught,  and  mocked  the  priesthood  of  God,  and 


110  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

they  with  the  Sadducees  and  scribes  were  not  willing 
to  submit  to  a  man  who  acknowledged  no  authority 
higher  than  himself,  and  was  seemingly  endeavor- 
ing to  overturn  everything  that  they  held  more 
sacred  and  dearer  than  life.  Jesus's  mode  and  man- 
ner were  well  qualified  to  deceive  the  unsuspecting. 
*  Let  us  have  all  things  in  common,'  said  he,  '  and 
he  that  would  be  greatest  among  you  will  prove  his 
greatness  by  rendering  the  greatest  service  to  all, 
and  if  any  of  the  higher  powers  compel  thee  to  go  a 
mile,  let  him  that  is  compelled  go  ten  miles.'  This 
caused  him  to  be  attacked  more  in  his  policy  than 
in  his  doctrine.  The  great  question  with  us  Jews 
was,  here  are  the  Romans  upon  us  ;  how  can  we  get 
rid  of  them  ?  Jesus's  idea  was  to  let  the  Romans 
alone ;  it  matters  not  who  rules  and  governs  the 
nations  ;  if  they  abuse  you,  love  them  in  return,  and 
they  cannot  be  your  enemies  long ;  no  man  can  con- 
tinue to  abuse  another  who  returns  injuries  with 
love.  Keep  from  them  ;  pray  in  secret  for  the  re- 
turn of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  God's  grace,  and 
this  will  soon  make  all  things  right.  '  Pay  your 
taxes,'  he  would  say  to  them  ;  '  it  is  only  Caesar's 
money  you  pay,  which  is  unlawful  for  you  to  have — 
unlawful  on  account  of  its  idolatrous  effigies.'  Again, 
he  would  say  to  his  hearers,  '  You  cannot  conquer 
the  Romans ;  better  convert  them,  and  they  are  your 
t  xemies  no  longer.  They  already  have  your  temple 
in  their  possession  ;  their  yoke  is  getting  heavier  every 
day,  and  the  more  you  fight  against  them  the  more 
they  will  abuse  you  ;  therefore,  your  only  chance  is 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  HI 

to  love  them,  and  try  to  make  your  yoke  easy  and 
your  burden  light  by  having  them  your  friends.' 
Indeed,  the  conduct  of  Jesus  was  so  strange  and 
incompatible  with  the  interest  of  the  Jews  as  a 
nation,  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  was  a  subject 
employed  by  the  Romans  to  keep  the  Jews  submis- 
sive and  obedient  to  all  their  tyranny  and  abuse. 

"  This  policy  was  most  powerfully  attacked  by  the 
officiating  priest,  by  the  Shammaites  and  Zealots, 
and,  in  fact,  the  whole  Jewish  nation  was  becoming 
aroused  to  a  war  heat.  The  reprimands  of  Jesus 
were  so  severe  against  the  rich  and  highly  educated 
that  they  had  turned  against  him,  and  brought  all 
the  power  they  had,  both  of  their  wealth  and  talent, 
so  that  I  saw  that  a  bloody  insurrection  was  brewing 
fast.  The  public  mind  of  the  Jews  was  becoming  more 
and  more  divided  and  corrupt ;  heretical  doctrines 
were  being  diffused  all  over  the  land  ;  the  temple  was 
forsaken  and  the  holy  sacraments  neglected  ;  the  peo- 
ple were  dividing  into  sects,  and  these  breaches  were 
like  a  rent  in  a  garment — tearing  wider  apart  con- 
tinually. As  it  seemed  to  me,  the  whole  of  the  Jew- 
ish theocracy  was  about  to  be  blown  away  as  a  bubble 
on  a  breaker. 

' '  As  the  Jews  became  more  and  more  divided  and 
confused,  the  tyranny  of  the  Romans  increased.  All 
they  wanted  was  an  excuse  to  slaughter  the  Jews 
and  confiscate  their  property.  At  this  time  both  the 
doctrine  and  religion  of  the  Jews  were  spreading 
rapidly  all  over  Rome,  which  gave  the  Romans  great 
alarm.  Sejane  undertook  to  have  an  ordinance 


112  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

passed  in  the  Senate,  abolishing  the  Jewish  religion 
from  Rome  ;  and  when  he  found  it  would  cause  an 
insurrection,  they  banished  all  the  Jews  from  Rome, 
and  back  they  came  to  Judea  with  all  their  idolatry 
and  heresy,  and  many  other  corrupt  principles  from 
the  Romans,  which  fitted  them  to  join  any  party  for 
profit.  Up  to  this  time  the  Roman  governors  had 
shown  great  kindness  to  the  Jews.  There  never  was 
a  better  man  than  Hyrcan.  The  Jews  enjoyed  great 
peace  during  his  administration.  But  Tiberias  has 
turned  against  us ;  Pilate  has  removed  the  army  from 
Csesarea  to  Jerusalem.  I  say,  no  nation  with  any 
self-respect,  or  one  that  had  any  energy  left,  would 
or  could  stand  it  without  a  struggle. 

"  Now,  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist  and 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  brought  all  these  things  upon 
us.  When  Herod  Antipas  captured  John,  it  quieted 
matters  in  Galilee,  so  that  they  had  peace  until  Jesus 
started  it  up  afresh.  I  had  issued  orders  to  Jesus 
to  desist  from  preaching,  unless  he  taught  as  the 
Jews  taught.  He  sent  me  the  impertinent  word  that 
his  doctrine  was  not  of  this  world,  but  had  reference 
to  the  world  to  come  ;  when  he  was  all  the  time 
doing  all  he  could  to  destroy  the  peace  and  harmony 
of  this  world.  Now,  according  to  our  law  in  the 
Saphra,  by  Jose.  B.  Talmud,  it  devolves  on  me  to 
see  that  the  people  have  sound  doctrine  taught  them. 
Hence  it  is  my  duty  to  examine  all  the  midrashim, 
or  sermons,  of  all  the  preaching  priests,  and  if  any- 
one teach  the  people  wrongly,  or  if  his  conduct  is  not 
in  correspondence  with  his  profession,  to  cause  him 


REPORT  OF  CATAPHAS.  113 

to  desist ;  or  if  any  disregard  the  holy  laws  of  ablu- 
tion, or  in  any  way  defile  himself,  or  if  he  shall  be 
guilty  of  misconduct  in  any  way,  either  in  manner 
of  life  or  doctrine,  to  adjudge  such  an  one,  and  pro- 
nounce sentence  for  his  crime  upon  him.  This  I  did 
upon  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  to  save  the  Church  from 
heresy,  and  to  save  the  cause  of  the  Jewish  common- 
wealth from  final  ruin.  But  understand  that  I  did 
not  act  rashly  nor  illegally,  as  I  am  accused.  I  only 
passed  sentence  under  the  protest  and  order  of  the 
whole  court  belonging  to  the  high  priest,  containing 
twelve  members,  or  elders,  and  priests.  Thus  you 
will  see  it  was  not  my  voluntary  act,  but  was  a  legal 
one  and  in  accordance  with  law.  After  I  examined 
Jesus  on  the  various  charges,  he  said  in  the  presence 
of  all  the  court  that  each  and  all  of  them  were  true. 
I  then  reasoned  with  him,  and  asked  him,  if  the  court 
of  the  high  priest  would  forgive  him  of  these  charges 
would  he  desist  from  these  things  in  all  time  to  come. 
He  answered  most  emphatically  and  positively  he 
would  not.  Under  these  circumstances  I  was  com- 
pelled, according  to  our  law,  to  sentence  him  to  die ; 
for  if  he  continued  to  promulgate  his  pernicious  here- 
sies the  Jews,  as  a  nation,  must  perish  with  their  re- 
ligion. And,  as  you  find  in  the  Toseppta,  that  the 
nation  has  always  the  right  of  self-preservation,  and 
as  we  had  conceded  the  right  to  the  Romans  of  ex- 
ecuting our  criminal  laws,  it  became  my  painful  duty 
to  send  him  to  Pontius  Pilate,  with  the  following 
charges  : 

8 


114  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

" '  Caiaphas,  High  Priest  of  the  Most  High  God, 
to  Pontius  Pilate,  Governor  of  the  Roman  Province : 

"  '  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  thus  charged  by  the  High 
Court  of  the  Jews  : 

" '  First,  with  teaching  the  doctrine  that  there  are 
more  gods  than  one,  which  is  contrary  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Jewish  law,  which  he  most  positively  re- 
fuses to  desist  from  in  the  presence  of  this  court. 

"  '  Second,  he  teaches  that  he  is  a  God,  which  is 
contrary  to  the  Jewish  law,  and  he  is  visible  and 
comprehensible  ;  and,  after  being  asked  to  desist  by 
this  court,  he  most  positively  affirms  that  he  is  the 
Son  of  God. 

"  '  Third,  he  teaches  and  affirms  that  the  Bath  kole 
(Holy  Spirit)  cannot  come  until  he  goes  away,  which 
is  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Jews  ;  because  it 
was  He  that  brooded  over  the  waters,  and  has  been 
in  the  habitual  light  of  the  world  ever  since  ;  from 
all  of  which  he  refuses  to  desist. 

"  '  He  teaches  baptism  as  the  seal  of  God,  instead 
of  circumcision,  which  was  established  by  the  decrees 
of  God  with  Abraham  as  a  seal  of  the  Jews ;  and 
when  abjured  to  desist  by  this  court  declared  he 
would  not. 

"  '  He  teaches  asceticism  as  the  means  of  salvation, 
contrary  to  the  Jewish  custom  ;  and  affirmed  in  the 
presence  of  this  court  he  would  not  desist. 

"  '  He  teachds  that  the  Levitical  ablution  is  of  no 
service,  while  we  hold  that  the  outward  washing  is 
the  sign  of  inward  purity ;  and  when  abjured  to 
desist  he  emphatically  refused. 


REPORT  OF  CAIAPHAS.  115 

"  '  He  has  abrogated  the  ordinance  given  by  God 
to  Moses  of  the  pascal  supper,  wherein  we  should 
roast  a  lamb  and  eat  it  with  unleavened  bread  ;  but 
Jesus  has  introduced  a  custom  altogether  diSerent — 
without  any  authority.  He  has  introduced  common 
bread  and  wine,  which  are  not  only  forbidden,  but  are 
well  qualified  to  excite  men's  passions  and  make  them 
forget  God  rather  than  to  remember  and  trust  Him, 
this  feast  having  been  introduced  that  we  should 
remember  to  trust  Him  in  the  hours  of  trouble. 
When  asked  why  he  did  this,  all  he  would  say  was : 
"  Hitherto  I  work,  and  my  Father  works." 

"  '  He  has  abrogated  the  priesthood,  and  set  the 
temple  at  naught,  which  is  the  very  life's  blood  of 
the  Jewish  faith. 

"  '  Were  it  not  that  God  our  Father  has  given  us 
these  holy  ordinances  we  would  not  be  so  tenacious 
of  them.  We  know  they  are  the  pillars  upon  which 
the  Jewish  theocracy  is  built,  and  that  we  cannot 
live  without  them.  Although  Jesus  of  Nazareth  has 
been  abjured  time  and  again  to  stop  teaching  these 
ways  of  death,  he  has  as  often  declared  he  would 
not ;  therefore  it  devolves  on  me  as  the  proper  and 
the  only  officer  to  pronounce  sentence  upon  him.' 

"  These  charges  were  written  by  my  scribe,  and 
sent  with  the  officers  to  Pilate  for  his  consent.  Of 
course,  I  did  not  expect  him  to  execute  him  as  he 
did.  but  it  seems  that  the  mob  was  so  great  that 
Pilate  never  received  them.  I  expected  Pilate  to 
send  Jesus  back  to  me,  so  that  I  could  send  him  to 


116  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

you  for  your  approval ;  and  if  so,  then  I  would  pro- 
ceed  to  try  him  with  Urim  and  Thummim,  with  the 
regular  lacktees  on  guard,  as  our  law  requires  ;  but 
't  seems  that  Pilate  thirsted  for  his  blood.  Like  all 
guilty  tyrants,  he  was  afraid  of  his  own  shadow,  and 
wished  to  destroy  everything  that  threatened  his 
power. 

"  With  these  reasons  for  my  actions,  I  submit  the 
case  which  I  am  sure  will  be  considered  favorably  by 
my  Masters  of  Israel." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

REPORT   OF    CAIAPHAS    TO     THE    SANHEDRIM     CON- 
CERNING  THE  RESURRECTION    OP   JESUS. 

AFTER  having  made  the  preceding  record  of 
Caiaphas,  on  unwinding  the  same  scroll  we  found 
another  report  from  him.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
the  reader  to  know  what  we  mean  by  a  scroll.  It  is 
similar  to  parchment.  The  Hebrew  word  numet 
means  a  pulp  made  from  the  bark  of  the  reed  into 
a  paste,  and  dried  in  the  sun  until  it  is  hard  ;  when 
pressed  and  polished  it  shines  beautifully,  and  its 
surface  is  as  smooth  as  our  paper.  It  is  of  two  kinds  : 
one  is  called  papyrus,  the  other  hierotike.  The  latter 
is  more  costly,  and  is  used  by  priests  alone.  It  is 
about  sixteen  inches  wide,  and  is  cemented  together 
by  a  gum  that  exudes  from  a  tree  resembling  our  elm. 
It  is  written  upon  with  some  kind  of  indelible  ink 
or  paint,  with  a  common  reed  quill,  which  is  fash- 
ioned like  our  pens.  The  writing  is  done  by  the 
sopher,  which  is  the  Hebrew  word  for  scribe.  He  is 
called  grammateus  by  the  Greeks.  The  report  of 
Caiaphas  is  written  in  what  is  known  as  the  square 
Hebrew.  The  letters  are  from  a  half-inch  to  an 
inch  in  size,  so  that  one  can  imagine  what  a  roll  of 

(117) 


1 1 8  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

parchment  it  would  take  to  record  a  deed  It  is  read 
only  with  difficulty  by  the  best  Hebrew  scholars,  and 
they  must  have  text-books  to  assist  them.  But  after 
one  has  gotten  the  thread  of  the  subject  he  can  get 
along  with  it.  This  is  the  reason  I  got  Dr.  Mclntosh 
to  go  with  me.  He  and  Dr.  Twyman  have  been  in 
the  business  i'or  many  years.  The  windlass,  as  it 
might  be  called  (for  it  more  resembles  our  common 
rope- winders  than  anything  I  can  think  of),  is  a 
square  piece  of  timber,  about  three  inches  in  diame- 
ter, to  which  the  scroll  is  fastened  at  one  end,  around 
which  it  is  rolled  like  a  spool.  At  the  proper  dis- 
tance are  tied  two  transverse  sticks  to  hold  the  parch- 
ment to  its  proper  place.  The  windlass  with  the 
scroll  is  placed  at  one  end  of  a  table,  and  an  empty 
windlass  at  the  other  end,  so  that  as  you  unwind 
from  the  one  to  read,  the  scroll  winds  around  the 
other.  The  letters  are  very  distinct.  There  are 
hundreds  of  these  arranged  in  rows.  They  are  all 
lettered  and  numbered  with  their  dates  on  them. 
This  makes  it  easy  to  find  anything  desired.  There 
is  another  class  of  books  of  fine  sheep  or  goat  skin, 
about  eight  by  twelve  inches.  The  writing  on  these 
is  very  fine  and  difficult  to  read.  They  are  bound 
between  cedar  boards,  with  clasps,  and  contain  from 
eight  to  forty  sheets  to  the  book.  These  are  the  kind 
of  books  of  which  Josephus  wrote  seventy-two. 

But  to  return  to  Caiaphas's  report.  After  unwind- 
ing several  feet,  as  before  stated,  we  came  across- 
another  communication  from  Caiaphas  ;  I  hardly 
know  whether  to  call  it  a  resignation  or  a  confession. 


CAIAPHAS  ON  THE  RESURRECTION.    H9 

One  thing  I  do  know,  it  is  one  of  the  most  solemn 
things  that  I  have  ever  read.  We  thanked  God 
that  we  had  come  to  Constantinople,  and  that  Mo- 
hammed had  given  orders  to  preserve  these  sacred 
scrolls  in  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia.  It  is  as  follows  t 

"Sanhedrim,  89.     By  Siphri  II,  7.: 

"  To  You,  Masters  of  Israel :  As  I  have  made  a 
former  defence  to  you,  and  you  have  approved  the 
same,  I  feel  in  duty  bound  to  communicate  to  you 
some  facts  that  have  come  to  my  knowledge  since 
that  communication.  A  few  days  after  the  execution 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  the  report  of  his  resurrection 
from  the  dead  became  so  common  that  I  found  it 
necessary  to  investigate  it,  because  the  excitement 
was  more  intense  than  before,  and  my  own  life  as 
well  as  that  of  Pilate  was  in  danger.  I  sent  for 
Malkus,  the  captain  of  the  royal  city  guard,  who 
informed  me  he  knew  nothing  personally,  as  he  had 
placed  Isham  in  command  of  the  guard  ;  but  from 
what  he  could  learn  from  the  soldiers  the  scene  was 
awe-inspiring,  and  the  report  was  so  generally  be- 
lieved that  it  was  useless  to  deny  it.  He  thought 
my  only  chance  was  to  suppress  it  among  the  soldiers, 
and  have  John  and  Peter  banished  to  Crete,  or 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  if  they  would  not  be 
quiet,  to  treat  them  as  I  had  treated  Jesus.  He  said 
that  all  the  soldiers  he  had  conversed  with  were  con- 
vinced that  Jesus  was  resurrected  by  supernatural 
power  and  was  still  living,  and  that  he  way  no  hu- 
man being,  for  the  light  and  the  angels  and  the  dead 
that  came  out  of  their  graves  all  went  to  prove  that 


120  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

something  had  happened  that  never  occurred  on 
earth  before.  He  said  that  John  and  Peter  were 
spreading  it  all  over  the  country,  and  that  if  Jesus 
would  appear  at  the  head  of  a  host,  and  declare  for 
the  king  of  the  Jews,  he  believed  all  the  Jews  would 
fight  for  him.  I  sent  for  the  lieutenant,  who  gave  a 
lengthy  account  of  the  occurrence  that  morning,  all 
of  which  I  suppose  you  have  learned,  and  will  inves- 
tigate. From  this  I  am  convinced  that  something 
transcending  the  laws  of  nature  took  place  that 
morning,  that  cannot  be  accounted  for  upon  natural 
laws,  and  I  find  it  is  useless  to  try  to  get  any  of  the 
soldiers  to  deny  it,  for  they  are  so  excited  that  they 
cannot  be  reasoned  with.  I  regret  that  I  had  the 
soldiers  placed  at  the  tomb,  for  the  very  things  that 
they  were  to  prevent  they  have  helped  to  establish. 
"  After  questioning  the  soldiers  and  officers  to  my 
satisfaction,  my  mind  being  so  disturbed  that  I  could 
neither  eat  nor  sleep,  I  sent  for  John  and  Peter. 
They  came  and  brought  Mary  and  Joanna,  who  are 
the  women  that  went  to  embalm  Jesus's  body  the 
morning  of  the  resurrection,  as  it  is  called.  They 
were  very  interesting  as  they  related  the  circum- 
stances. Mary  says  that  when  they  went  day  was 
just  breaking.  They  met  the  soldiers  returning  from 
the  sepulchre,  and  saw  nothing  strange  until  they 
came  to  the  tomb,  and  found  that  it  was  empty.  The 
stone  that  covered  the  sepulchre  was  rolled  to  one 
side,  and  two  men  dressed  in  flowing  white  were  sit- 
ting, one  at  each  end  of  the  sepulchre.  Mary  asked 
them  where  was  her  Lord  ;  they  said,  '  He  is  risen 


CAIAPHAS  ON  THE  RESURRECTION.    121 

from  the  dead  ;  did  he  not  tell  you  he  would  rise  the 
third  day  and  show  himself  to  the  people,  to  prove 
that  he  was  the  Lord  of  life  ?'  Go  tell  his  disciples, 
said  they.  Joanna  said  she  saw  but  one  man  ;  but 
this  discrepancy  must  have  been  due  to  their  excite- 
ment, because  they  say  they  were  much  alarmed. 
They  both  say  that  as  they  returned  they  met  the 
Master,  who  told  them  that  he  was  the  resurrection 
and  the  life  ;  all  that  will  accept  shall  be  resurrected 
from  the  second  death.  '  We  fell  at  his  feet,  all 
bathed  in  tears,  and  when  we  rose  up  he  was  gone.' 
Both  these  women  wept  for  joy  while  relating  these 
circumstances,  and  John  shouted  aloud,  which  made 
me  tremble  in  every  limb,  for  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing that  something  that  was  the  exclusive  work  of 
God  had  occurred,  but  what  it  all  meant  was  a  great 
mystery  to  me.  It  might  be,  I  said,  that  God  had 
sent  this  message  by  the  mouth  of  this  stranger  ;  it 
might  be  that  he  was  the  seed  of  the  woman,  and  we 
his  people  had  executed  him. 

"  I  asked  John  and  Peter  if  they  could  give  me 
any  further  evidence  in  regard  to  this  man  ;  that  I 
wished  to  be  informed  of  his  private  history.  Peter 
said  that  Jesus  passed  by  where  he  was,  and  bade 
him  follow  him,  and  he  felt  attracted  to  him,  but  at 
first  it  was  more  through  curiosity  than  anything  in 
the  man  ;  that  he  soon  became  acquainted  with  Mary, 
who  told  him  that  he  was  her  son,  and  related  to  him 
the  strange  circumstances  of  his  birth,  and  that  she 
was  convinced  that  he  was  to  be  the  king  of  the  Jews. 
She  spoke  of  many  strange  things  concerning  his  life, 


122  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

which  made  Peter  feel  more  interested  in  him  than  he 
would  have  been  otherwise.  He  said  that  Jesus  was  a 
man  so  pleasant  in  his  character,  and  so  like  a  child 
in  innocence,  that  no  one  could  help  liking  him  after 
he  got  acquainted  with  him  ;  that  though  he  seemed 
to  be  stern  and  cold,  he  was  not  so  in  reality  ;  that 
he  was  exceedingly  kind,  especially  to  the  poor ; 
that  he  would  make  any  sacrifice  for  the  sick  and 
needy,  and  would  spare  no  effort  to  impart  knowl- 
edge to  anyone  that  would  call  on  him,  and  that  his 
knowledge  was  so  profound  that  he  had  seen  him 
interrogated  by  the  most  learned  doctors  of  the  law, 
and  he  always  gave  the  most  perfect  satisfaction,  and 
that  the  sopher  or  scribes,  and  the  Hillelites,  and 
Shammaites  were  afraid  to  open  their  mouths  in  his 
presence.  They  had  attacked  him  so  often  and  been 
repelled  that  they  shunned  him  as  they  would  a 
wolf ;  but  when  he  had  repelled  them  he  did  not 
enioy  the  triumph  as  they  did  over  others  of  whom 
they  had  gotten  the  ascendency.  As  to  his  private 
life,  he  seemed  not  to  be  a  man  of  pleasure,  nor  of  sor- 
row. He  mingled  with  society  to  benefit  it,  and  yet 
took  no  part  at  all  in  what  was  going  on.  '  I  had 
heard  many  tell  of  what  occurred  when  he  was  bap- 
tized, and  from  what  his  mother  told  me  I  was  watch- 
ing for  a  display  of  his  divine  power,  if  he  had  any, 
for  I  knew  he  could  never  be  king  of  the  Jews 
unless  he  did  have  help  from  on  high.  Once  when 
we  were  attending  a  marriage-feast  the  wine  gave 
out,  and  his  mother  told  him  of  it,  and  he  said 
to  the  men  to  fill  up  some  water-pots  that  were 


CAIAPHAS  ON  THE  RESURRECTION.     123 

sitting  near,  and  they  put  in  nothing  but  water,  for 
I  watched  them,  but  when  they  poured  it  out  it 
was  wine,  for  it  was  tasted  by  all  at  the  feast,  and 
when  the  master  found  it  out  he  called  for  Jesus  to 
honor  him,  but  he  had  disappeared.  It  seemed  that 
he  did  not  want  to  be  popular,  and  this  spirit  dis- 
pleased us,  for  we  knew  if  he  was  to  be  king  of  the 
Jews  he  must  become  popular  with  the  Jews.  His 
behavior  angered  his  mother,  for  she  was  doing  all 
she  could  to  bring  him  into  notice,  and  to  make  him 
popular  among  the  people,  and  the  people  could  not 
help  liking  him  when  they  saw  him.  Another  pecu- 
liarity was  that  in  his  presence  everyone  felt  safe. 
There  seemed  to  be  an  almighty  power  pervading 
the  air  wherever  he  went  so  that  everyone  felt  secure, 
and  believed  that  no  harm  could  befall  them  if  Jesus 
were  present.  As  we  were  in  our  fishing-boat  I  saw 
Jesus  coming  out  toward  us,  walking  on  the  water. 
I  knew  that  if  he  could  make  the  waves  support 
him,  he  could  me  also.  I  asked  him  if  I  might  conle 
to  him  ;  he  said  to  me  to  come,  but  when  I  saw  the 
waves  gathering  around  me  I  began  to  sink,  and 
asked  him  to  help  me.  He  lifted  me  up,  a'nd  told 
me  to  have  faith  in  God.  On  another  occasion  we 
were  sailing  on  the  sea,  and  there  was  a  great  storm. 
It  blew  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  all  on  board  thought 
they  would  be  lost ;  we  awakened  the  master,  and 
when  he  saw  the  raging  of  the  storm  he  stretched 
out  his  hand  and  said,  "  Peace,  be  still !"  and  the 
wind  ceased  to  blow,  the  thunder  stopped,  the  light- 
nings withdrew,  and  the  billowing  sea  seemed  as 


124  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

quiet  as  a  babe  in  its  mother's  arms — all  done  in  one 
moment  of  time.  This  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes,  and 
from  that  time  I  was  convinced  that  he  was  not  a 
common  man.  Neither  did  he  work  by  enchantment 
like  the  Egyptian  thaumaturgists,  for  in  all  their 
tricks  they  never  attack  the  laws  of  nature.  In  vain 
might  they  order  the  thunder  to  hush,  or  the  winds  to 
abate,  or  the  lightnings  to  cease  their  flashing.  Again, 
I  saw  this  man  while  we  were  passing  from  Jericho. 
There  was  a  blind  man,  who  cried  out  to  him  for 
mercy,  and  Jesus  said  to  me,  "  Go,  bring  him  near," 
and  when  I  brought  him  near  Jesus  asked  him  what 
he  wanted.  He  said  he  wanted  to  see  him.  Jesus 
said,  "  Receive  thy  sight,"  when  he  was  not  near 
enough  for  Jesus  to  lay  his  hands  upon  him  or  use 
any  art.  Thus  were  all  his  miracles  performed.  He 
did  not  act  as  the  Egyptian  necromancers.  They 
use  vessels,  such  as  cups,  bags,  and  jugs,  and  many 
other  things  to  deceive.  Jesus  used  nothing  but  his 
simple  speech  in  such  a  way  that  all  could  understand 
him,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  laws  of  nature  were  his 
main  instruments  of  action,  and  that  nature  was  as 
obedient  to  him  as  a  slave  is  to  his  master.  I  recall 
another  occasion  when  a  young  man  was  dead,  and 
Jesus  loved  his  sisters.  One  of  them  went  with  Jesus 
to  the  tomb.  He  commanded  it  to  be  uncovered. 
The  sister  said,  "  Master,  by  this  time  he  is  offensive ; 
he  has  been  dead  four  days."  Jesus  said,  "  Only  have 
faith,"  and  he  called  the  young  man  by  name,  and  he 
came  forth  out  of  the  tomb,  and  is  living  to-day,'  and 
Peter  proposed  that  I  should  see  him  for  myself. 


CAIAPHAS  ON  THE  RESURRECTION.    125 

"  Thus  argue  Peter  and  John.  If  Jesus  had  such 
power  over  nature  and  nature's  laws,  and  power  over 
death  in  others,  he  would  have  such  power  over  death 
that  he  could  lay  down  his  life  and  take  it  up  again, 
as  he  said  he  would  do.  As  he  proposes  to  bring  hun- 
dreds of  witnesses  to  prove  all  he  says,  and  much  more 
— witnesses  whose  veracity  cannot  be  doubted — and 
as  I  had  heard  many  of  these  things  before  from  differ- 
ent men,  both  friends  and  foes  (and  although  these 
things  are  related  by  his  friends — that  is,  the  friends 
of  Jesus — yet  these  men  talk  like  men  of  truth,  and 
their  testimony  corroborates  other  evidence  that  I 
have  from  other  sources,  that  convinces  me  that  this 
is  something  that  should  not  be  rashly  dealt  with), 
and  seeing  the  humble  trust  and  confidence  of  these 
men  and  women,  besides,  as  John  says,  thousands  of 
others  equally  strong  in  their  belief,  it  throws  me 
into  great  agitation.  I  feel  some  dreadful  forebod- 
ing— a  weight  upon  my  heart.  I  cannot  feel  as  a 
criminal  from  the  fact  that  I  was  acting  according 
to  my  best  judgment  with  the  evidence  before  me. 
I  feel  that  I  was  acting  in  defence  of  God  and  my 
country,  which  I  love  better  than  my  life,  and  if  I 
was  mistaken,  I  was  honest  in  my  mistake.  And  as 
we  teach  that  honesty  of  purpose  gives  character  to 
the  action,  on  this  basis  I  shall  try  to  clear  myself  of 
any  charge,  yet  there  is  a  conscious  fear  about  my 
heart,  so  that  I  have  no  rest  day  or  night.  I  feel 
sure  that  if  I  should  meet  Jesus  I  would  fall  dead 
at  his  feet ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  if  I  went  out  I 
should  be  sure  to  meet  him. 


126  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  In  this  state  of  conscious  dread  I  remained  in- 
vestigating the  Scriptures  to  know  more  about  the 
prophecies  concerning  this  man,  but  found  nothing 
to  satisfy  my  mind.  I  locked  my  door  and  gave  the 
guards  orders  to  let  no  one  in  without  first  giving  me 
notice.  While  thus  engaged,  with  no  one  in  the 
room  but  my  wife  and  Annas,  her  father,  when  I 
lifted  up  my  eyes,  behold  Jesus  of  Nazareth  stood 
before  me.  My  breath  stopped,  my  blood  ran  cold, 
and  I  was  in  the  act  of  falling,  when  he  spoke  and 
said,  '  Be  not  afraid,  it  is  I.  You  condemned  me 
that  you  might  go  free.  This  is  the  work  of  my 
Father.  Your  only  wrong  is,  you  have  a  wicked 
heart ;  this  you  must  repent  of.  This  last  lamb 
you  have  slain  is  the  one  that  was  appointed  before 
the  foundation  ;  this  sacrifice  is  made  for  all  men. 
Your  other  lambs  were  for  those  who  offered  them  ; 
this  is  for  all,,  this  is  the  last ;  it  is  for  you  if  you 
will  accept  it.  I  died  that  you  and  all  mankind 
might  be  saved.'  At  this  he  looked  at  me  with  such 
melting  tenderness  that  it  seemed  to  me  I  was  noth- 
ing but  tears,  and  my  strength  was  all  gone.  I  fell 
on  my  face  at  his  feet  as  one  that  was  dead.  When 
Annas  lifted  me  up  Jesus  was  gone,  and  the  door 
still  locked.  No  one  could  tell  when  or  where  he 
went. 

"  So,  noble  Masters,  I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  offici- 
ate as  priest  any  more.  If  this  strange  personage  is 
from  God,  and  should  prove  to  be  the  Saviour  we 
have  looked  for  so  long,  and  I  have  been  the  means 
of  crucifying  him,  I  have  no  further  offerings  to 


CAIAPHAS  ON  THE  RESURRECTION.     127 

make  for  sin  ;  but  I  will  wait  and  see  how  these 
things  will  develop.  And  if  he  proves  to  be  the 
ruler  that  we  are  looking  for,  they  will  soon  develop 
into  something  more  grand  in  the  future.  His  glory 
will  increase  ;  his  influence  will  spread  wider  and 
wider,  until  the  whole  earth  shall  be  full  of  his  glory, 
and  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  shall  be  his  do- 
minion. Such  are  the  teachings  of  the  prophets  on 
this  subject.  Therefore  you  will  appoint  Jonathan, 
or  some  one,  to  fill  the  holy  place." 

[We  found  that,  soon  after,  Jonathan  became  high 
priest,  though  history  teaches  us  differently. — 
MAHAN.] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VALLEUS'S  NOTES. — ACTA  PILATI,  OR  PILATE'S  RE- 
PORT TO  C.ESAR  OF  THE  AREEST,  TRIAL,  AND 
CRUCIFIXION  OF  JESUS. 

VALLEUS  PATERCULUS,  a  Roman  historian,  was 
nineteen  years  old  when  Jesus  was  born.  His  works 
have  been  thought  to  be  extinct.  I  know  of  but 
two  historians  that  make  reference  to  his  writings, 
Priscian  and  Tacitus,  who  speak  of  him  as  a  de- 
scendant of  an  equestrian  fainily  of  Campania. 
From  what  we  gather  from  these  writers,  Valleus 
must  have  been  a  close  friend  of  Caesar,  who  raised 
him  by  degrees  until  he  became  one  of  the  great  men 
of  Rome,  and  for  sixteen  years  commanded  the  army. 
He  returned  to  Rome  in  the  year  31  and  finished 
his  work,  which  was  called  Historic/,  Romania.  He 
held  the  office  of  praetor  when  Augustus  died,  and 
while  Vinceus  was  consul. 

Valleus  says  that  in  Judea  he  met  a  man  called 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable characters  he  had  ever  seen ;  that  he  was 
more  afraid  of  Jesus  than  of  a  whole  army,  for  he 
cured  all  manner  of  diseases  and  raised  the  dead, 
and  when  he  cursed  the  orchards  or  fruit-trees  for 
(128) 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  129 

their  barrenness,  they  instantly  withered  to  their 
roots.  After  referring  to  the  wonderful  works  of 
Jesus,  he  says  that,  although  Jesus  had  such  power, 
he  did  not  use  it  to  injure  any  one,  but  seemed  always 
inclined  to  help  the  poor.  Valleus  says  the  Jews 
were  divided  in  their  opinion  of  him,  the  poorer  class 
claiming  him  as  their  king  and  their  deliverer  from 
Roman  authority,  and  that  if  Jesus  should  raise  an 
army  and  give  it  the  power  he  could  sweep  the 
world  in  a  single  day  ;  but  the  rich  Jews  hated  and 
cursed  him  behind  his  back,  and  called  him  an 
Egyptian  necromancer,  though  they  were  as  afraid 
of  him  as  of  death  (  Valleus  Paterculus,  B.  72,  found 
in  the  Vatican  at  Rome). 


PILATE'S   REPORT. 

"  To  TIBERIUS  CAESAR,  EMPEROR  OF  ROME. 

"Noble  Sovereign,  Greeting :  The  events  of  the  last 
few  days  in  my  province  have  been  of  such  a  char- 
acter that  I  will  give  the  details  in  full  as  they 
occurred,  as  I  should  not  be  surprised  if,  in  the 
course  of  time,  they  may  change  the  destiny  of  our 
nation,  for  it  seems  of  late  that  all  the  gods  have 
ceased  to  be  propitious.  I  am  almost  ready  to  say, 
Cursed  be  the  day  that  I  succeeded  Vallerius  Flaceus 
in  the  government  of  Judea  ;  for  since  then  my  life 
has  been  one  of  continual  uneasiness  and  distress. 

"  On  my  arrival  at  Jerusalem  I  took  possession 
of  the  prsetorium,  and  ordered  a  splendid  feast  to  be 


130  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

prepared,  to  which  I  invited  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee, 
with  the  high  priest  and  his  officers.  At  the  ap- 
pointed hour  no  guests  appeared.  This  I  considered 
an  insult  offered  to  my  dignity,  and  to  the  whole 
government  which  I  represent.  A  few  days  after 
the  high  priest  deigned  to  pay  me  a  visit.  His  de- 
portment was  grave  and  deceitful.  He  pretended 
that  his  religion  forbade  him  and  his  attendants  to 
sit  at  the  table  of  the  Romans,  and  eat  and  oSer  liba- 
tions with  them,  but  this  was  only  a  sanctimonious 
seeming,  for  his  very  countenance  betrayed  his  hypoc- 
risy. Although  I  thought  it  expedient  to  accept 
his  excuse,  from  that  moment  I  was  convinced 
that  the  conquered  had  declared  themselves  the 
enemy  of  the  conquerors ;  and  I  would  warn  the 
Romans  to  beware  of  the  high  priests  of  this  coun- 
try. They  would  betray  their  own  mother  to  gain 
office  and  a  luxurious  living.  It  seems  to  me  that, 
of  conquered  cities,  Jerusalem  is  the  most  difficult 
to  govern.  So  turbulent  are  the  people  that  I  live 
in  momentary  dread  of  an  insurrection.  I  have  not 
soldiers  sufficient  to  suppress  it.  I  had  only  one 
centurian  and  a  hundred  men  at  my  command.  I 
requested  a  reinforcement  from  the  prefect  of  Syria, 
who  informed  me  that  he  had  scarcely  troops  suffi- 
cient to  defend  his  own  province.  An  insatiate  thirst 
for  conquest  to  extend  our  empire  beyond  the  means 
of  defending  it,  I  fear,  will  be  the  cause  of  the  final 
overthrow  of  our  whole  government.  I  lived  secluded 
from  the  masses,  for  I  did  not  know  what  those  priests 
might  influence  the  rabble  to  do  ;  yet  I  endeavored 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  131 

to  ascertain,  as  far  as  I  could,  the  mind  and  standing 
of  the  people. 

"Among  the  various  rumors  that  came  to  my  ears 
there  was  one  in  particular  that  attracted  my  atten- 
tion. A  young  man,  it  was  said,  had  appeared  in 
Galilee  preaching  with  a  noble  unction  a  new  law  in 
the  name  of  the  God  that  had  sent  him.  At  first  I 
was  apprehensive  that  his  design  was  to  stir  up  the 
people  against  the  Romans,  but  my  fears  were  soon 
dispelled.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  spoke  rather  as  friend 
of  the  Romans  than  of  the  Jews.  One  day  in  pass- 
ing by  the  place  of  Siloe,  where  there  was  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  I  observed  in  the  midst  of  the 
group  a  young  man  who  was  leaning  against  a  tree, 
calmly  addressing  the  multitude.  I  was  told  it  was 
Jesus.  This  I  could  easily  have  suspected,  so  great 
was  the  difference  between  him  and  those  listening 
to  him.  His  golden-colored  hair  and  beard  gave  to 
his  appearance  a  celestial  aspect.  He  appeared  to 
be  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Never  have  I  seen  a 
sweeter  or  more  serene  countenance.  What  a  con- 
trast between  him  and  his  hearers,  with  their  black 
beards  and  tawny  complexions  ! 

"  Unwilling  to  interrupt  him  by  my  presence,  I 
continued  my  walk,  but  signified  to  my  secretary  to 
join  the  group  and  listen.  My  secretary's  name  is 
Manlius.  He  is  the  grandson  of  the  chief  of  the 
conspirators  who  encamped  in  Etruria  waiting  for 
Cataline.  Manlius  had  been  for  a  long  time  an  in- 
habitant of  Judea,  and  is  well  acquainted  with  the 
Hebrew  language.  He  was  devoted  to  me,  and 


132  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

worthy  of  my  confidence.  On  entering  the  praeto- 
rium  I  found  Manlius,  who  related  to  me  the  words 
Jesus  had  pronounced  at  Siloe.  Never  have  I  read 
in  the  works  of  the  philosophers  anything  that  can 
compare  to  the  maxims  of  Jesus.  One  of  the  rebel- 
lious Jews,  so  numerous  in  Jerusalem,  having  asked 
Jesus  if  it  was  lawful  to  give  tribute  to  Csesar,  he 
replied  :  '  Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  belong 
to  Caesar,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.' 

"  It  was  on  account  of  the  wisdom  of  his  sayings 
that  I  granted  so  much  liberty  to  the  Nazarene  ;  for 
it  was  in  my  power  to  have  had  him  arrested,  and 
exiled  to  Pontus ;  but  that  would  have  been  contrary 
to  the  justice  which  has  always  characterized  the 
Roman  government  in  all  its  dealings  with  men  ; 
this  man  was  neither  seditious  nor  rebellious  ;  I  ex- 
tended to  him  my  protection,  unknown  perhaps  to 
himself.  He  was  at  liberty  to  act,  to  speak,  to  assem- 
ble and  address  the  people,  and  to  choose  disciples, 
unrestrained  by  any  praetorian  mandate.  Should  it 
ever  happen  (may  the  gods  avert  the  omen  !),  should 
it  ever  happen,  I  say,  that  the  religion  of  our  fore- 
fathers will  be  supplanted  by  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
it  will  be  to  this  noble  toleration  that  Rome  shall 
owe  her  premature  death,  while  I,  miserable  wretch, 
will  have  been  the  instrument  of  what  the  Jews 
call  Providence,  and  we  call  destiny. 

"  This  unlimited  freedom  granted  to  Jesus  pro- 
voked the  Jews — not  the  poor,  but  the  rich  and  pow- 
erful. It  is  true,  Jesus  was  severe  on  the  latter,  and 
this  was  a  political  reason,  in  my  opinion,  for  not 


PILATE' 'S  REPORT.  133 

restraining  the  liberty  of  the  Nazarene.  '  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,'  he  would  say  to  them,  '  you  are  a 
race  of  vipers  ;  you  resemble  painted  sepulchres ; 
you  appear  well  unto  men,  but  you  have  death  within 
you.'  At  other  times  he  would  sneer  at  the  alms  of 
the  rich  and  proud,  telling  them  that  the  mite  of  the 
poor  was  more  precious  in  the  sight  of  God.  Com- 
plaints were  daily  made  at  the  prsetorium  against  the 
insolence  of  Jesus. 

"  I  was  even  informed  that  some  misfortune  would 
befall  him  ;  that  it  would  not  be  the  first  time  that 
Jerusalem  had  stoned  those  who  called  themselves 
prophets ;  an  appeal  would  be  made  to  Csesar.  How- 
ever, my  conduct  was  approved  by  the  Senate,  and 
I  was  promised  a  reinforcement  after  the  termination 
of  the  Parthian  war. 

"  Being  too  weak  to  suppress  an  insurrection,  I 
resolved  upon  adopting  a  measure  that  promised  to 
restore  the  tranquillity  of  the  city  without  subjecting 
the  praetorium  to  humiliating  concession.  I  wrote  to 
Jesus  requesting  an  interview  with  him  at  the  prseto- 
rium.  He  came.  You  know  that  in  my  veins  flows 
the  Spanish  mixed  with  Roman  blood — as  incapable 
of  fear  as  it  is  of  weak  emotion.  When  the  Naza- 
rene  made  his  appearance,  I  was  walking  in  my 
basilic,  and  my  f set  seemed  fastened  with  an  iron 
hand  to  the  marble  pavement,  and  I  trembled  in 
every  limb  as  does  a  guilty  culprit,  though  the  Naza- 
rene  was  as  calm  as  innocence  itself.  When  he  came 
up  to  me  he  stopped,  and  by  a  signal  sign  he  seemed 
to  say  to  me, '  I  am  here,'  though  he  spoke  not  a  word. 


134  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

For  some  time  I  contemplated  with  admiration  and 
awe  this  extraordinary  type  of  man — a  type  of  man 
unknown  to  our  numerous  painters,  who  have  given 
form  and  figure  to  all  the  gods  and  the  heroes.  There 
was  nothing  about  him  that  was  repelling  in  its  char- 
acter, yet  I  felt  too  awed  and  tremulous  to  approach 
him. 

"  '  Jesus,'  said  I  unto  him  at  last — and  my  tongue 
faltered — '  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  for  the  last  three 
years  I  have  granted  you  ample  freedom  of  speech  ; 
nor  do  I  regret  it.  Your  words  are  those  of  a  sage. 
I  know  not  whether  you  have  read  Socrates  or  Plato, 
but  this  I  know,  there  is  in  your  discourses  a  majes- 
tic simplicity  that  elevates  you  far  above  those  phi- 
losophers. The  Emperor  is  informed  of  it,  and  I, 
his  humble  representative  in  this  country,  am  glad 
of  having  allowed  you  that  liberty  of  which  you  are 
so  worthy.  However,  I  must  not  conceal  from  you 
that  your  discourses  have  raised  up  against  you 
powerful  and  inveterate  enemies.  Nor  is  this  sur- 
prising. Socrates  had  his  enemies,  and  he  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  their  hatred.  Yours  are  doubly  incensed — 
against  you  on  account  of  your  discourses  being  so 
severe  upon  their  conduct ;  against  me  on  account 
of  the  liberty  I  have  afforded  you.  They  even  ac- 
cuse me  of  being  indirectly  leagued  with  you  for  the 
purpose  of  depriving  the  Hebrews  of  the  little  civil 
power  which  Rome  has  left  them.  My  request — I 
do  not  say  my  order — is,  that  you  be  more  circum- 
spect and  moderate  in  your  discourses  in  the  future, 
and  more  considerate  of  them,  lest  you  arouse  the 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  135 

pride  of  your  enemies,  and  they  raise  against  you  the 
stupid  populace,  and  compel  me  to  employ  the  instru- 
ments of  law.' 

"  The  Nazarene  calmly  replied  :  '  Prince  of  the 
earth,  your  words  proceed  not  from  true  wisdom. 
Say  to  the  torrent  to  stop  in  the  midst  of  the  moun- 
tain-gorge :  it  will  uproot  the  trees  of  the  valley. 
The  torrent  will  answer  you  that  it  obeys  the  laws 
of  nature  and  the  Creator.  God  alone  knows  whither 
flow  the  waters  of  the  torrent.  Verily  I  say  unto- 
you,  before  the  rose  of  Sharon  blossoms  the  blood  of 
the  just  shall  be  spilt.' 

"  '  Your  blood  shall  not  be  spilt,'  said  I,  with  deep 
emotion  ;  '  you  are  more  precious  in  my  estimation 
on  account  of  your  wisdom  than  all  the  turbulent 
and  proud  Pharisees  who  abuse  the  freedom  granted 
them  by  the  Romans.  They  conspire  against  Caesar, 
and  convert  his  bounty  into  fear,  impressing  the  un- 
learned that  Caesar  is  a  tyrant  and  seeks  their  ruin. 
Insolent  wretches !  they  are  not  aware  that  the  wolf 
of  the  Tiber  sometimes  clothes  himself  with  the  skin 
of  the  sheep  to  accomplish  his  wicked  designs.  I 
will  protect  you  against  them.  My  prsetorium  shall 
be  an  asylum,  sacred  both  day  and  night.' 

"  Jesus  carelessly  shook  his  head,  and  said  with  a 
grave  and  divine  smile  :  '  When  the  day  shall  have 
come  there  will  be  no  asylums  for  the  son  of  man, 
neither  in  the  earth  nor  under  the  earth.  The  asy- 
lum of  the  just  is  there,'  pointing  to  the  heavens. 
'  That  which  is  written  in  the  books  of  the  prophets 
must  be  accomplished.' 


136  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  '  Young  man,'  I  answered,  mildly,  '  you  will 
oblige  me  to  convert  my  request  into  an  order.  The 
safety  of  the  province  which  has  been  confided  to 
my  care  requires  it.  You  must  observe  more  mod- 
eration in  your  discourses.  Do  not  infringe  my 
order.  You  know  the  consequences.  May  happiness 
attend  you  ;  farewell.' 

" '  Prince  of  the  earth,'  replied  Jesus,  '  I  come  not 
to  bring  war  into  the  world,  but  peace,  love,  and 
charity.  I  was  born  the  same  day  on  which  Augus- 
tus Caesar  gave  peace  to  the  Roman  world.  Perse- 
cutions proceed  not  from  me.  I  expect  it  from  others, 
and  will  meet  it  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  my  Father, 
who  has  shown  me  the  way.  Restrain,  therefore, 
your  worldly  prudence.  It  is  not  in  your  power  to 
arrest  the  victim  at  the  foot  of  the  tabernacle  of 
expiation.' 

"  So  saying,  he  disappeared  like  a  bright  shadow 
behind  the  curtains  of  the  basilic — to  my  great  relief, 
for  I  felt  a  heavy  burden  on  me,  of  which  I  could 
not  relieve  myself  while  in  his  presence. 

' '  To  Herod,  who  then  reigned  in  Galilee,  the  ene- 
mies of  Jesus  addressed  themselves,  to  wreak  their 
vengeance  on  the  Nazarene.  Had  Herod  consulted 
his  own  inclinations,  he  would  have  ordered  Jesus 
immediately  to  be  put  to  death  ;  but,  though  proud 
of  his  royal  dignity,  yet  he  hesitated  to  commit 
an  act  that  might  lessen  his  influence  with  the 
Senate,  or,  like  me,  was  afraid  of  Jesus.  But 
it  would  never  do  for  a  Roman  officer  to  be  scared 
by  a  Jew.  Previously  to  this,  Herod  called  on  me 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  137 

at  the  prsetorium,  and,  on  rising  to  take  leave,  after 
some  trifling  conversation,  asked  me  what  was  my 
opinion  concerning  the  Nazarene.  I  replied  that 
Jc>us  appeared  to  me  to  be  one  of  those  great  philos- 
ophers that  great  nations  sometimes  produced  ;  that 
his  doctrines  were  by  no  means  sacrilegious,  and  that 
the  intentions  of  Rome  were  to  leave  him  to  that 
freedom  of  speech  which  was  justified  by  his  actions. 
Herod  smiled  maliciously,  and,  saluting  me  with 
ironical  respect,  departed. 

"  The  great  feast  of  the  Jews  was  approaching, 
and  the  intention  was  to  avail  themselves  of  the  pop- 
ular exultation  which  always  manifests  itself  at  the 
solemnities  of  a  passover.  The  city  was  overflow- 
ing with  a  tumultuous  populace,  clamoring  for  the 
death  of  the  Xazarene.  My  emissaries  informed 
me  that  the  treasure  of  the  temple  had  been  em- 
ployed in  bribing  the  people.  The  danger  was  press- 
ing. A  Roman  centurion  had  been  insulted.  I 
wrote  to  the  Prefect  of  Syria  for  a  hundred  foot- 
soldiers  and  as  many  cavalry.  He  declined.  I  saw 
myself  alone  with  a  handful  of  veterans  in  the  midst 
of  a  rebellious  city,  too  weak  to  suppress  an  upris- 
ing, and  having  no  choice  left  but  to  tolerate  it. 
They  had  seized  upon  Jesus,  and  the  seditious  rab- 
ble, although  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  prse- 
torium,  believing,  as  their  leaders  had  told  them,  that 
I  winked  at  their  sedition — continued  vociferating  : 
'  Crucify  him  !  Crucify  him  !' 

"  Three  powerful  parties  had  combined  together 
at  that  time  against  Jesus :  First,  the  Herodians  and 


138  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

the  Sadducees,  whose  seditious  conduct  seemed  to 
have  proceeded  from  double  motives  :  they  hated  the 
Nazarene  and  were  impatient  of  the  Roman  yoke. 
They  never  forgave  me  for  having  entered  the  holy 
city  with  banners  that  bore  the  image  of  the  Roman 
emperor  ;  and  although  in  this  instance  I  had  com- 
mitted a  fatal  error,  yet  the  sacrilege  did  not  appear 
less  heinous  in  their  eyes.  Another  grievance  also 
rankled  in  their  bosoms.  I  had  proposed  to  employ 
a  part  of  the  treasure  of  the  temple  in  erecting  edi- 
fices for  public  use.  My  proposal  was  scorned.  The 
Pharisees  were  the  avowed  enemies  of  Jesus.  They 
cared  not  for  the  government.  They  bore  with  bit- 
terness the  severe  reprimands  which  the  Nazarene 
for  three  years  had  been  continually  giving  them 
wherever  he  went.  Timid  and  too  weak  to  act  by 
themselves,  they  had  embraced  the  quarrels  of  the 
Herodians  and  the  Sadducees.  Besides  these  three 
parties,  I  had  to  contend  against  the  reckless  and 
profligate  populace,  always  ready  to  join  a  sedition, 
and  to  profit  by  the  disorder  and  confusion  that 
resulted  therefrom. 

"  Jesus  was  dragged  before  the  High  Priest  and 
condemned  to  death.  It  was  then  that  the  High 
Priest,  Caiaphas,  performed  a  divisory  act  of  submis- 
sion. He  sent  his  prisoner  to  me  to  confirm  his  con- 
demnation and  secure  his  execution.  I  answered 
him  that,  as  Jesus  was  a  Galilean,  the  affair  came 
under  Herod's  jurisdiction,  and  ordered  him  to  be  sent 
thither.  The  wily  tetrarch  professed  humility,  and, 
protesting  his  deference  to  the  lieutenant  of  CaBsar, 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  139 

he  committed  the  fate  of  the  man  to  my  hands. 
Soon  my  palace  assumed  the  aspect  of  a  besieged 
citadel.  Every  moment  increased  the  number  of 
the  malcontents.  Jerusalem  was  inundated  with 
crowds  from  the  mountains  of  Nazareth.  All  Judea 
appeared  to  be  pouring  into  the  city. 

I  had  taken  a  wife  from  among  the  Gauls,  who 
pretended  to  see  into  futurity.  Weeping  and  throw- 
ing herself  at  my  feet  she  said  to  me : '  Beware,  beware, 
and  touch  not  that  man  ;  for  he  is  holy.  Last  night  I 
saw  him  in  a  vision.  He  was  walking  on  the  waters  ; 
he  was  flying  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  He  spoke 
to  the  tempest  and  to  the  fishes  of  the  lake  ;  all  were 
obedient  to  him.  Behold,  the  torrent  in  Mount  Ked- 
rou  flows  with  blood,  the  statues  of  Csesar  are  filled 
with  gemonide  ;  the  columns  of  the  interium  have 
given  away,  and  the  sun  is  veiled  in  mourning  like  a 
vestal  in  the  tomb.  Ah  !  Pilate,  evil  awaits  thee.  If 
thou  wilt  not  listen  to  the  vows  of  thy  wife,  dread 
the  curse  of  a  Roman  Senate  ;  dread  the  frowns 
of  Csesar.' 

"  By  this  time  the  marble  stairs  groaned  under 
the  weight  of  the  multitude.  The  Nazarene  was 
brought  back  to  me.  I  proceeded  to  the  halls  of 
justice,  followed  by  my  guard,  and  asked  the  people 
in  a  severe  tone  what  they  demanded. 

"  '  The  death  of  the  Nazarene,'  was  the  reply. 

"  '  For  what  crime  ?' 

'"He  has  blasphemed  ;  he  has  prophesied  the  ruin 
of  the  temple  ;  he  calls  himself  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Messiah,  the  King  of  the  Jews.' 


140  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  '  Roman  justice,'  said  I,  '  punishes  not  such 
oSences  with  death.' 

"  '  Crucify  him  !  Crucify  him  !'  cried  the  relent- 
less rabble.  The  vociferations  of  the  infuriated  mob 
shook  the  palace  to  its  foundations. 

"  There  was  but  one  who  appeared  to  be  calm  in 
the  midst  of  the  vast  multitude  ;  it  was  the  Naza- 
rene.  After  many  fruitless  attempts  to  protect  him 
from  the  fury  of  his  merciless  persecutors,  I  adopted 
a  measure  which  at  the  moment  appeared  to  me 
to  be  the  only  one  that  could  save  his  life.  I  pro- 
posed, as  it  was  their  custom  to  deliver  a  prisoner 
on  such  occasions,  to  release  Jesus  and  let  him  go 
free,  that  he  might  be  the  scapegoat,  as  they  called 
it ;  but  they  said  Jesus  must  be  crucified.  I  then 
spoke  to  them  of  the  inconsistency  of  their  course  as 
being  incompatible  with  their  laws,  showing  that  no 
criminal  judge  could  pass  sentence  on  a  criminal 
unless  he  had  fasted  one  whole  day ;  and  that  the  sen- 
tence must  have  the  consent  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  the 
signature  of  the  president  of  that  court ;  that  no 
criminal  could  be  executed  on  the  same  day  his  sen- 
tence was  fixed,  and  the  next  day,  on  the  day  of  his 
execution,  the  Sanhedrim  was  required  to  review  the 
whole  proceeding ;  also,  according  to  their  law,  a 
man  was  stationed  at  the  door  of  the  court  with  a 
flag,  and  another  a  short  way  off  on  horseback  to  cry 
the  name  of  the  criminal  and  his  crime,  and  the  names 
of  his  witnesses,  and  to  know  if  any  one  could  testify 
in  his  favor  ;  and  the  prisoner  on  his  way  to  execu- 
tion had  the  right  to  turn  back  three  times,  and  to 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  141 

plead  any  new  thing  in  his  favor.  I  urged  all  these 
pleas,  hoping  they  might  awe  them  into  subjection  ; 
but  they  still  cried,  '  Crucify  him  !  Crucify  him  !' 

"  I  then  ordered  Jesus  to  be  scourged,  hoping  this 
might  satisfy  them  ;  but  it  only  increased  their  fury. 
I  then  called  for  a  basin,  and  washed  my  hands  in 
the  presence  of  the  clamorous  multitude,  thus  testify- 
ing that  in  my  judgment  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  done 
nothing  deserving  of  death  ;  but  in  vain.  It  was  his 
life  these  wretches  thirsted  for. 

"  Often  in  our  civil  commotions  have  I  witnessed 
the  furious  anger  of  the  multitude,  but  nothing  could 
be  compared  to  what  I  witnessed  on  this  occasion. 
It  might  have  been  truly  said  that  all  the  phantoms 
of  the  infernal  regions  had  assembled  at  Jerusalem. 
The  crowd  appeared  not  to  walk,  but  to  be  borne  off 
and  whirled  as  a  vortex,  rolling  along  in  living  waves 
from  the  portals  of  the  prsetoriuni  even  unto  Mount 
Zion,  with  howling  screams,  shrieks,  and  vocifera- 
tions such  as  were  never  heard  in  the  seditions  of 
the  Pannonia,  or  in  the  tumults  of  the  forum. 

"  By  degrees  the  day  darkened  like  a  winter's 
twilight,  such  as  had  been  at  the  death  of  the  great 
Julius  Csesar.  It  was  likewise  the  Ides  of  March. 
I,  the  continued  governor  of  a  rebellious  province, 
was  leaning  against  a  column  of  my  basilic,  contem- 
plating athwart  the  dreary  gloom  these  fiends  of  Tar- 
tarus dragging  to  execution  the  innocent  Nazarene. 
All  around  me  was  deserted.  Jerusalem  had  vom- 
ited forth  her  indwellers  through  the  funeral  gate 
that  leads  to  Gemonica.  An  air  of  desolation  and 


142  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

sadness  enveloped  me.  My  guards  had  joined  the 
cavalry,  and  the  centurion,  with  a  display  of  power, 
was  endeavoring  to  keep  order.  I  was  left  alone,  and 
my  breaking  heart  admonished  me  that  what  was 
passing  at  that  moment  appertained  rather  to  the 
history  of  the  gods  than  that  of  men.  A  loud 
clamor  was  heard  proceeding  from  Golgotha,  which, 
borne  on  the  winds,  seemed  to  announce  an  agony 
such  as  was  never  heard  by  mortal  ears.  Dark  clouds 
lowered  over  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  setting 
over  the  city  covered  it  as  with  a  veil.  So  dreadful 
were  the  signs  that  men  saw  both  in  the  heavens  and 
on  the  earth  that  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  is  re- 
ported to  have  exclaimed,  '  Either  the  author  of 
nature  is  suffering  or  the  universe  is  falling  apart.' 

"  Whilst  these  appalling  scenes  of  nature  were 
transpiring,  there  was  a  dreadful  earthquake  in  lower 
Egypt,  which  filled  everbody  with  fear,  and  scared 
the  superstitious  Jews  almost  to  death.  It  is  said 
Balthasar,  an  aged  and  learned  Jew  of  Antioch,  was 
found  dead  after  the  excitement  was  over.  Whether 
he  died  from  alarm  or  grief  is  not  known.  He  was 
a  strong  friend  of  the  Nazarene. 

"  Near  the  first  hour  of  the  night  I  threw  my 
mantle  around  me,  and  went  down  into  the  city 
toward  the  gates  of  Golgotha.  The  sacrifice  was  con- 
summated. The  crowd  was  returning  home,  still 
agitated,  it  is  true,  but  gloomy,  taciturn,  and  des- 
perate. What  they  had  witnessed  had  stricken  them 
with  terror  and  remorse.  I  also  saw  my  little  Koman 
cohort  pass  by  mournfully,  the  standard-bearer  hav- 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  143 

ing  veiled  his  eagle  in  token  of  grief ;  and  I  over- 
heard some  of  the  Jewish  soldiers  murmuring  strange 
words  which  I  did  not  understand.  Others  were 
recounting  miracles  very  like  those  which  have 
30  often  smitten  the  Romans  by  the  will  of  the 
ajods.  Sometimes  groups  of  men  and  women  would 
halt,  then,  looking  back  toward  Mount  Calvary, 
would  remain  motionless  in  expectation  of  witnessing 
some  new  prodigy. 

"  I  returned  to  the  prsetorium,  sad  and  pensive. 
On  ascending  the  stairs,  the  steps  of  which  were  still 
stained  with  the  blood  of  the  Nazarene,  I  perceived 
an  old  man  in  a  suppliant  posture,  and  behind  him 
several  Romans  in  tears.  He  threw  himself  at  my 
feet  and  wept  most  bitterly.  It  is  painful  to  see  an  old 
man  weep,  and  my  heart  being  already  overcharged 
with  grief,  we,  though  strangers,  wept  together.  And 
in  truth  it  seemed  that  the  tears  lay  very  shallow 
that  day  with  many  whom  I  perceived  in  the  vast 
concourse  of  people.  I  never  witnessed  such  an 
extreme  revulsion  of  feeling.  Those  who  betrayed 
and  sold  him,  those  who  testified  against  him,  those 
who  cried,  '  Crucify  him,  we  have  his  blood,'  all 
slunk  o5  like  cowardly  curs,  and  washed  their  teeth 
with  vinegar.  As  I  am  told  that  Jesus  taught  a 
resurrection  and  a  separation  after  death,  if  such 
should  be  the  fact  I  am  sure  it  commenced  in  this 
vast  crowd. 

"  '  Father,'  said  I  to  him,  after  gaining  control  of 
my  feelings, '  who  are  you,  and  what  is  your  request  ?' 

"  '  I  am  Joseph  of  Arimathsea,'  replied  he,  '  and 


144  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

am  come  to  beg  of  you  upon  my  knees  the  permis- 
sion to  bury  Jesus  of  Nazareth.' 

"  '  Your  prayer  is  granted,'  said  I  to  him  ;  and  at 
the  same  time  I  ordered  Manlius  to  take  some  sol- 
diers with  him  to  superintend  the  interment,  lest  it 
should  be  profaned. 

"A  few  days  after  the  sepulchre  was  found  empty. 
His  disciples  proclaimed  all  over  the  country  that 
Jesus  had  risen  from  the  dead,  as  he  had  foretold. 
This  created  more  excitement  even  than  the  cruci- 
fixion. As  to  its  truth  I  cannot  say  for  certain,  but  I 
have  made  some  investigation  of  the  matter  ;  so  you 
<3an  examine  for  yourself,  and  see  if  I  am  in  fault, 
as  Herod  represents. 

"  Joseph  buried  Jesus  in  his  own  tomb.  Whether 
he  contemplated  his  resurrection  or  calculated  to  cut 
him  another,  I  cannot  tell.  The  day  after  he  was 
buried  one  of  the  priests  came  to  the  prsetorium  and 
.said  they  were  apprehensive  that  his  disciples  in- 
tended to  steal  the  body  of  Jesus  and  hide  it,  and 
then  make  it  appear  that  he  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
as  he  had  foretold,  and  of  which  they  were  perfectly 
convinced.  I  sent  him  to  the  captain  of  the  royal 
guard  (Malcus)  to  tell  him  to  take  the  Jewish  sol- 
diers, place  as  many  around  the  sepulchre  as  were 
needed  ;  then  if  anything  should  happen  they  could 
blame  themselves,  and  not  the  Romans. 

"  When  the  great  excitement  arose  about  the  sep- 
ulchre being  found  empty,  I  felt  a  deeper  solicitude 
than  ever.  I  sent  for  Malcus,  who  told  me  he  had 
placed  his  lieutenant,  Ben  Isham,  with  one  hundred 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  145 

soldiers,  around  the  sepulchre.  He  told  me  that 
Isham  and  the  soldiers  were  very  much  alarmed  at 
what  had  occurred  there  that  morning.  I  sent  for 
this  man  Isham,  who  related  to  me,  as  near  as  I  can 
recollect,  the  following  circumstances  :  He  said  that 
at  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  watch  they  saw 
a  soft  and  beautiful  light  over  the  sepulchre.  He  at 
first  thought  that  the  women  had  come  to  embalm  the 
body  of  Jesus,  as  was  their  custom,  but  he  could  not 
see  how  they  had  gotten  through  the  guards.  While 
these  thoughts  were  passing  through  his  mind,  be- 
hold, the  whole  place  was  lighted  up,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  crowds  of  the  dead  in  their  grave- 
clothes.  All  seemed  to  be  shouting  and  filled  with 
ecstasy,  while  all  around  and  above  was  the  most 
beautiful  music  he  had  ever  heard  ;  and  the  whole 
air  seemed  to  be  full  of  voices  praising  God.  At 
this  time  there  seemed  to  be  a  reeling  and  swimming 
of  the  earth,  so  that  he  turned  so  sick  and  faint  that 
he  could  not  stand  on  his  feet.  He  said  the  earth, 
seemed  to  swim  from  under  him,  and  his  senses  left 
him,  so  that  he  knew  not  what  did  occur.  I  asked 
him  in  what  condition  he  was  when  he  came  to  him- 
self. He  said  he  was  lying  on  the  ground  with  his 
face  down.  I  asked  him  if  he  could  not  have  been 
mistaken  as  to  the  light.  Was  it  not  day  that  was 
coming  in  the  East  ?  He  said  at  first  he  thought  of 
that,  but  at  a  stone's  cast  it  was  exceedingly  dark  ; 
and  then  he  remembered  it  was  too  early  for  day.  I 
asked  him  if  his  dizziness  might  not  have  come  from 
being  wakened  up  and  getting  up  too  suddenly,  as  it 
10 


146  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

sometimes  had  that  effect.  He  said  he  was  not,  and 
had  not  been  asleep  all  night,  as  the  penalty  was 
death  for  him  to  sleep  on  duty.  He  said  he  had  let 
some  of  the  soldiers  sleep  at  a  time.  Some  were 
asleep  then.  I  asked  him  how  long  the  scene  lasted. 
He  said  he  did  not  know,  but  he  thought  nearly  an 
hour.  He  said  it  was  hid  by  the  light  of  day.  I 
asked  him  if  he  went  to  the  sepulchre  after  he  had 
come  to  himself.  He  said  no,  because  he  was  afraid  ; 
that  just  as  soon  as  relief  came  they  all  went  to  their 
quarters.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  been  questioned  by 
the  priests.  He  said  he  had.  They  wanted  him  to 
say  it  was  an  earthquake,  and  that  they  were  asleep, 
and  offered  him  money  to  say  that  the  disciples  came 
and  stole  Jesus  ;  but  he  saw  no  disciples  ;  he  did  not 
know  that  the  body  was  gone  until  he  was  told.  I 
asked  him  what  was  the  private  opinion  of  those 
priests  he  had  conversed  with.  He  said  that  some 
of  them  thought  that  Jesus  was  no  man  ;  that  he  was 
uot  a  human  being  ;  that  he  was  not  the  son  of 
Mary ;  that  he  was  not  the  same  that  was  said  to  be 
born  of  the  virgin  in  Bethlehem  ;  that  the  same  per- 
son had  been  on  the  earth  before  with  Abraham  and 
Lot,  and  at  many  times  and  places. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that,  if  the  Jewish  theory  be  true, 
these  conclusions  are  correct,  for  they  are  in  accord 
with  this  man's  life,  as  is  known  and  testified  by  both 
friends  and  foes,  for  the  elements  were  no  more  in 
his  hands  than  the  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter. 
He  could  convert  water  into  wine  ;  he  could  change 
death  into  life,  disease  into  health  ;  he  could  calm 


PILATE'S  REPORT.  147 

the  seas,  still  the  storms,  call  up  fish  with  a  silver 
coin  in  its  mouth.  Now,  I  say,  if  he  could  do  all 
these  things,  which  he  did,  and  many  more,  as  the 
Jews  all  testify,  and  it  was  doing  these  things  that 
created  this  enmity  against  him — he  was  not  charged 
with  criminal  offenses,  nor  was  he  charged  with  vio- 
lating any  law,  nor  of  wronging  any  individual  in 
person,  and  all  these  facts  are  known  to  thousands, 
as  well  by  his  foes  as  by  his  friends — I  am  almost 
ready  to  say,  as  did  Manulas  at  the  cross,  '  Truly 
this  was  the  Son  of  God.' 

"  Now,  noble  Sovereign,  this  is  as  near  the  facts 
in  the  case  as  I  can  arrive  at,  and  I  have  taken 
pains  to  make  the  statement  very  full,  so  that  you 
may  judge  of  my  conduct  upon  the  whole,  as  I  hear 
that  Antipater  has  said  many  hard  things  of  me  in 
this  matter.  With  the  promise  of  faithfulness  and 
good  wishes  to  my  noble  Sovereign, 

"  I  am  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  PONTIUS  PILATE." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

HEROD  ANTIPATER'S  DEFENCE  BEFORE  THE  ROMAN 
SENATE  IN  REGARD  TO  HIS  CONDUCT  AT 
BETHLEHEM. 

ON  a  scroll  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican  I  find 
the  following  record,  marked  "  Herod  Antipater's 
Defence  :" 

"  Noble  Romans:  In  the  case  whereof  I  am 
accused,  these  Jews  are  of  all  people  the  most  super- 
stitious, and  no  more  to  be  trusted  than  the  Hindoos. 
They  have  taught  themselves  to  believe  in  but  one 
God,  who  dwells  in  another  world,  so  they  can  neither 
see  nor  hear  Him,  nor  in  any  way  approach  Him  by 
their  senses.  They  believe  that  He  is  unchangeable 
and  unapproachable  ;  that  He  can  only  manifest 
Himself  through  some  angel  or  spirit,  or  some  light, 
or  the  thunder,  or  any  strange  and  uncommon  phe- 
nomenon. Hence,  they  are  so  superstitious  that  they 
can  be  made  to  believe  anything. 

' '  In  order  that  you  may  know  what  kind  of  peo- 
ple I  have  to  deal  with,  I  will  give  you  some  of  their 
maxims :  (1)  When  the  sun  shines  they  say  their 
God  smiles ;  (2)  when  it  is  cloudy  they  say  He 
frowns  ;  (3)  when  it  thunders  they  say  He  is  angry, 
(148) 


HEROD  ANTIPATERS  DEFENCE.         149 

and  they  hide  themselves  ;  (4)  when  it  rains  they  say 
He  weeps,  and  many  other  similar  sayings.  Now, 
my  lords,  you  can  see  at  once  how  far  this  people 
might  be  led,  if  they  could  be  made  to  believe  this 
strange  God  was  at  their  head,  and  took  up  their 
cause. 

"  Now,  as  a  foundation  for  all  this  foolishness, 
they  have  a  book,  and  a  set  of  men,  called  priests, 
who  read  and  expound  this  book  to  them,  and  they 
will  believe  anything  these  priests  tell  them.  To 
show  how  far  they  may  be  led,  these  priests  tell  them 
that  some  thousands  of  years  ago  one  Moses  died, 
and  went  to  where  this  strange  God  dwelt.  He  was 
gone  forty  days,  and  when  he  came  back  he  brought 
this  book,  which  was  written  by  this  God  for  their 
government.  Now,  to  prove  the  whole  thing  is  a 
forgery,  the  book  is  wholly  for  the  benefit  of  the 
priest.  The  poor  have  to  work  and  toil  contin- 
ually, and  pay  half  what  they  make,  and  sometimes 
almost  starve  to  support  the  lazy  priests  and  furnish 
them  and  their  women  with  plenty  of  fine  garments, 
and  wine,  and  the  best  of  food.  The  priests  tell 
these  poor  Jews  that  this  God  requires  them  to  bring 
the  best  calf,  the  best  lamb,  and  the  best  flour  and 
oil  to  the  temple,  to  offer  in  sacrifice  ;  and  the  priests 
and  their  party  get  all  this  for  themselves.  I  often 
tell  them,  when  they  object  to  the  Roman  taxation, 
that  they  could  keep  up  a  thousand  Caesars  for  much 
less  than  it  costs  to  keep  up  their  God  and  His  priests. 

"  The  leaders  are  always  quarrelling  and  fighting 
among  themselves,  and  dividing  off  in  different  sects. 


150  THE  AROHKO  VOLUME. 

Miracles  are  as  common  as  poor  physicians.  The 
Essenes  are  noted  for  both.  They  prophesy,  work 
miracles,  see  visions,  and  have  dreams,  and  stand  in 
reputation  as  quack  doctors.  They  pretend  to  know 
all  about  angels,  ghosts,  and  spirits  ;  they  profess  the 
art  of  managing  ethereal  citizens  of  transatmospheric 
regions.  They  live  together  in  colonies,  some  of  them 
are  cenobitic  and  some  are  celibate  communities. 
They  maintain  that  all  of  them  are  priests  and 
high  priests  ;  therefore  their  daily  baptisms  as  the 
priests  on  duty.  They  wear  the  Levitical  garments. 
Their  tables  are  their  altars,  and  their  meals  their 
only  sacrifices.  With  this  sanctimonious  misan- 
thropy, which  is  their  highest  virtue,  they  use  the 
allegorical  method  of  expounding  the  Scripture. 
While  we  think,  and  reason,  and  reflect,  and  use  our 
faculties  to  obtain  our  ideas  of  duty,  they  shut  their 
eyes  and  fold  their  hands,  waiting  to  be  endued  with 
power  from  their  God  ;  and  when  they  get  it,  it 
proves  to  be  all  to  their  own  advantage  and  interest, 
to  the  ruin  of  their  fellow-citizens.  The  Sadducees 
are  another  party,  equally  absurd.  They  get  their 
doctrine  from  Antigonus  Sochseus,  who  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Sanhedrim.  They  reject  all  the  traditions 
of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  Then  we  find  the 
sopher,  or  scribe.  They  are  the  writers  and  expoun- 
ders of  the  law.  The  Pharisees  (derived  from  Phar- 
ash,  to  separate)  separate  from  all  men  on  account 
of  their  sanctity.  But  it  is  useless  to  name  all  these 
sects,  with  their  peculiar  views,  each  differing  from 
the  other.  They  are  all  strict  monotheists,  yet 


HEROD  ANTIPATEKS  DEFENCE.         151 

they  differ  from  each  other  more  than  the  poly- 
theists  do. 

"  I  have  given  this  detailed  description  of  the  peo- 
ple and  their  various  sects  that  the  Senate  may  have 
an  idea  of  the  situation  I  am  in.  But  if  you  could 
be  here  and  see  and  associate  with  them  as  I  do — to 
see  them  with  all  their  sanctity  of  life,  and  then  be- 
hold their  treachery  to.  each  other ;  see  how  they 
lie  and  steal  the  one  from  the  other  ;  and  then  see 
how  low  and  base  are  their  priests — you  would  be 
much  better  qualified  to  judge  of  my  actions. 

' '  As  to  this  great  excitement  at  Bethlehem,  three 
strange,  fantastic-looking  men  called  on  my  guards 
at  the  gate,  and  asked  them  where  was  the  babe  born 
that  was  to  be  King  of  the  Jews.  My  guards  told 
me  of  it,  and  I  ordered  the  men  to  be  brought  into 
court.  I  asked  them  who  they  were.  One  of  them 
said  he  was  from  Egypt.  I  asked  what  was  their 
business.  He  said  they  were  in  search  of  the  babe 
that  was  born  to  rule  the  Jews.  I  told  them  that  I 
ruled  the  Jews  under  Augustus  Csesar.  But  he  said 
this  babe  would  rule  when  I  was  gone.  I  told  him 
not  unless  he  was  born  under  the  purple.  I  asked 
him  how  he  knew  of  this  babe.  He  said  they  had 
all  had  a  dream  the  same  night  about  it.  •  I  told 
them  that  the  devil  played  with  our  brains  when  we 
were  asleep.  He  drew  a  parchment  roll  from  his 
bosom,  and  read  in  the  Hebrew  language  :  '  Thou, 
Bethlehem,  least  among  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
out  of  thee  should  come  a  man  that  should  rule  all 
people.'  I  asked  him  who  wrote  that.  He  said  the 


152  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

God  of  heaven.  I  asked  him  where  he  got  that 
parchment.  He  said  it  was  the  law  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Jews.  He  also  said  a  star  had  travelled  be- 
fore them  all  the  way  to  Jerusalem.  I  told  him  his 
God  was  mistaken  ;  that  Bethlehem  was  not  a  king- 
dom, neither  was  it  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  Judea. 
I  told  them  that  they  were  superstitious  fanatics, 
and  ordered  them  out  of  my  presence. 

' '  But  the  excitement  grew  until  it  became  intense. 
I  found  nothing  could  control  it.  I  called  the  Hillel 
court,  which  was  the  most  learned  body  of  talent  in 
Jerusalem.  They  read  out  of  their  laws  that  Jesus 
was  to  be  born  of  a  virgin  in  Bethlehem ;  that  he 
was  to  rule  all  nations,  and  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world  were  to  be  subject  to  him  ;  and  that  his  king- 
dom should  never  end,  but  his  appointees  should 
continue  this  rule  forever.  I  found  this  court  just 
as  sanguine  as  those  strangers,  and,  in  fact,  it  was  in 
everbody's  mouth ;  I  thought  I  could  discover  already 
a  sort  of  deriding  and  mocking  spirit  among  the 
lower  classes  in  regard  to  the  Roman  authority. 
Now,  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  scene  that  occurred 
at  Bethlehem  was  nothing  more  than  a  meteor  trav- 
elling through  the  air,  or  the  rising  vapor  from  the 
foot  of  the  mountains  out  of  the  low,  marshy  ground, 
as  is  often  the  case.  And  as  to  the  noise  heard  by 
Melker  and  those  shepherd-boys,  it  was  only  the  echo 
of  the  shepherds  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain 
calling  the  night-watch,  or  scaring  away  the  wolves 
from  their  flocks. 

"  But  although  this  was  nothing  but  a  phenome- 


HEROD  ANTIPATERS  DEFENCE.        153 

non  of  nature,  and  the  whole  thing  a  delusion,  it  did 
not  better  the  condition  I  was  in.  A  man  will  con- 
tend for  a  false  faith  stronger  than  he  will  for  a  true 
one,  from  the  fact  that  the  truth  defends  itself,  but 
a  falsehood  must  be  defended  by  its  adherents  :  first, 
to  prove  it  to  themselves,  and,  secondly,  that  they 
may  appear  right  in  the  estimation  of  their  iriends. 
But  the  fact  is,  this  case  is  about  as  follows  :  The 
Roman  taxation  was  cutting  off  the  support  of  the 
priests,  and  they  were  smarting  under  it.  Again, 
the  double  taxing — that  is,  the  tithes  to  the  priests 
and  the  tax  to  the  Romans — was  bearing  heavily  on 
the  common  people,  so  that  they  could  not  stand  it, 
and  the  priests  saw  that  one  of  them  would  have  to 
go  unpaid  ;  and,  as  they  saw  the  Romans  were  the 
stronger,  they  wrote  these  things  in  the  Tosephta, 
and  read  it  daily  in  all  their  synagogues  and  temples, 
that  the  Jewish  mind  might  be  prepared  for  the 
<;vent,  knowing  that  they  would  magnify  a  mote  into 
a  mountain,  when  it  came  to  anything  outside  of  the 
common  laws  of  nature,  and  knowing  that  if  they 
could  get  the  common  people  to  believe  in  the  things 
there  would  be  no  end  to  their  fighting.  And  from 
all  appearances  the  excitement  was  fast  driving  the 
people  that  way.  It  had  already  become  a  by-word 
with  the  children  of  Bethlehem  and  Jerusalem  that 
the  Jews  had  a  new  king,  that  neither  Caesar  nor 
Herod  would  reign  any  more,  that  they  would  have 
to  pay  no  more  taxes  fo  keep  up  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. Such  talk  and  sayings  were  common  among 
the  poorer  classes  of  society. 


154  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  So  I  saw  an  insurrection  brewing  fast,  and  noth- 
ing but  a  most  bloody  war  as  the  consequence.  Now, 
under  these  circumstances,  what  was  I  to  do  ?  In 
my  honest  judgment  it  was  best  to  pluck  the  unde- 
veloped flower  in  its  bud,  lest  it  should  grow  and 
strengthen,  and  finally  burst,  and  shed  its  deadly 
poison  over  both  nations,  and  impoverish  and  ruin 
them  forever.  My  enemies  can  see  I  could  have  no 
malice  toward  the  infants  of  Bethlehem.  I  took  no 
delight  in  listening  to  the  cries  of  innocent  mothers. 
May  all  the  gods  forbid  !  No  ;  I  saw  nothing  but 
an  insurrection  and  a  bloody  war  were  our  doom, 
and  in  this  the  overthrow  and  downfall,  to  some 
extent,  of  our  nation. 

' '  These  are  the  grounds  of  my  action  in  this  mat- 
ter. I  am  satisfied  I  did  the  best  that  could  be  done 
under  the  circumstances.  As  my  motive  was  purely 
to  do  the  best  I  could  for  my  whole  country,  I  hope 
you  will  so  consider  it,  and  I  submit  this  statement 
for  your  consideration,  promising  faithfulness  and 
submission  to  your  judgment. 

"HEROD  ANTIPATER." 


CHAPTER  X. 

HEROD  ANTIPAS'S  DEFENCE  BEFORE  THE  ROMAN 
SENATE  IN  REGARD  TO  THE  EXECUTION  OF  JOHN 
THE  BAPTIST. 

WE  found  on  the  records  of  the  Roman  Senate 
Herod  Antipas's  defence  respecting  the  various  accu- 
sations preferred  against  him  by  different  persons. 
In  his  defence  there  are  some  very  important  items 
regarding  the  Christian  Church.  The  reader  will 
notice  that  these  events  were  recorded  with  no  inten- 
tion of  establishing  other  facts.  1.  The  history  of 
John  the  Baptist.  2.  The  history  of  Jesus  Christ. 
3.  The  killing  of  the  children  by  his  father  at  Beth- 
lehem. 

"To  TIBERIUS  CAESAR  AND  THE  SENATE  OF  ROME, 
"My  Noble  Lords,  Greeting:  It  is  true,  as  my 
opponent  asserts,  that  I  was  defeated  in  battle  with 
Aretas,  King  of  Arabia,  but  I  was  forced  to  fight 
when  unprepared  for  the  conflict.  I  either  had  to 
fight  or  have  the  country  overrun  by  this  wicked 
people.  It  is  true  I  was  defeated,  but  it  was  owing 
to  the  want  of  time  and  better  preparation.  Aretas 
came  upon  me  without  warning.  Notwithstanding 
I  was  defeated  his  army  was  so  crippled  that  he  had 

(155) 


156  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

to  withdraw  his  forces  from  the  field,  and  has  not 
been  able  to  rally  them  since.  So  our  country  was 
saved  from  the  devastation  of  a  foreign  foe. 

"  I  understand  that  the  superstitious  Jews  say  my 
defeat  was  for  my  wickedness  in  beheading  John  the 
Baptist.  My  understanding  of  the  God  of  the  Jews 
is,  that  He  does  not  chastise  the  innocent  for  the 
crimes  of  the  guilty.  What  did  my  actions  have  to 
do  with  the  poor,  suffering  soldier  ?  But  if  He  had 
to  punish  all  in  order  to  reach  me,  then  where  is  His 
almighty  power  they  boast  so  much  of  ?  I  do  not 
know  whether  their  God  was  angry  at  me  or  not. 
There  is  one  thing  I  know,  the  act  was  done  with  the 
holy  intention  of  bringing  the  greatest  amount  of 
good  to  the  greatest  number  of  people  ;  and  if  this 
is  so,  no  court  can  gainsay  it  or  condemn  it. 

"  The  facts  in  the  case  are  about  as  follows  :  John 
the  Baptist  had  set  up  a  new  mode  of  religion  alto- 
gether different  from  the  Jewish  religion,  teaching 
baptism  instead  of  circumcision,  which  had  been  the 
belief  and  custom  of  the  Jews  in  all  ages  past. 
According  to  their  theory,  God  appeared  to  Abra- 
ham hundreds  of  years  before,  and  told  him  with 
His  own  lips  how  and  what  to  do  to  be  saved  ;  and 
the  Jews  had  lived  according  to  this  until  it  had  be- 
come their  nature,  and  all  their  forefathers  had  lived 
in  this  way.  David,  Solomon,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  all 
the  holy  prophets  had  gone  to  heaven  in  this  way  of 
God's  own  appointment.  Now,  the  question  came 
to  them,  as  they  suggested  it  to  me  :  Has  God  found 
that  He  was  wrong  ?  Has  His  wisdom  failed  Him  ? 


HEROD  ANTI PAS'S  DEFENCE.  157 

or  has  the  unchangeable  changed,  and  is  He  waver- 
ing in  His  purpose  ?  Such  would  be  the  natural 
conclusions  of  a  sensible  man  under  the  circum- 
stances. Now,  John  the  Baptist  had  no  authority 
from  God  for  what  he  was  doing,  as  Abraham  had. 
All  he  could  say  was,  '  He  that  sent  me  to  baptize  is 
true  ;'  and  he  cannot  tell  who  he  was.  Then  his 
going  into  the  wilderness  :  God  had  ordered  Solomon 
to  build  the  finest  temple  that  was  ever  built  in  the 
world,  and  made  promises  that  Avhosoever  came  to 
that  house  with  his  oSerings  his  prayers  should  be 
heard  and  answered.  This  temple  had  been  the  place 
of  their  meeting  for  hundreds  of  years,  for  the  Jews 
think  this  temple  the  next  place  to  heaven. 

"  Now  see  the  difference  : 

"  1st.  John  has  no  authorized  authority. 

"  2d.  He  changes  God's  place  of  worship. 

"  3d.  He  changes  the  doctrines. 

"  4th.  He  changes  the  mode  of  application. 

"  Now,  the  idea  of  Gamaliel  was  that  John  wanted 
to  be  some  great  man  ;  hence,  he  took  this  mode  of 
eccentric  life  to  establish  it.  And  there  is  nothing 
better  qualified  than  the  course  he  took  to  make  an 
impression  upon  the  ignorant  and  unlearned — to  go 
away  out  into  the  wilderness  by  himself,  get  a  few 
friends  from  Jerusalem  to  go  out  and  hear  him,  and 
come  back  and  tell  of  the  great  wonders  which  they 
had  seen  in  the  wilderness.  Then  John's  appearance 
— his  long,  uncombed  hair  and  beard,  his  fantastic 
clothing,  and  his  food,  nothing  but  bugs  and  beans — 
such  a  course  and  such  a  character  are  well  qualified 


158  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

to  lead  the  illiterate  astray.  These  troubles  on  the 
Jewish  mind  were  very  heavy,  and  gave  such  men 
as  Hilderium,  Shammai,  Hill  el,  •  and  others  great 
concern.  And  no  wonder,  for  in  their  judgment  it 
was  vacating  the  temple  of  religious  worship ;  it  was 
blocking  the  road  to  heaven,  and  driving  the  poor 
and  unsuspecting  to  ruin,  as  well  as  destroying  the 
whole  nation.  So  it  was,  by  their  request,  as  so 
ordered,  that  it  was  better  to  execute  one  to  save  the 
many  from  a  worse  fate.  And  this  is  the  true  reason 
for  the  deed,  and  not  to  please  the  whim  of  a  danc- 
ing-girl, as  you  have  heard.  Now,  my  lords,  if  this 
is  not  satisfactory,  I  would  ask  my  accuser,  Caius,  to 
write  to  any  of  the  learned  Jews,  and  learn  if  my 
statement  is  not  correct. 

"As  to  Agrippa's  accusing  me -of  having  arms  for 
seventy  thousand  soldiers,  it  is  correct ;  but  they 
were  left  me  by  my  father,  Herod  the  Great.  And 
as  they  were  needed  to  defend  the  province,  and  I 
did  not  know  it  was  necessary  to  report  them,  I  never 
thought  of  keeping  them  secret.  But  as  to  my  being 
in  league  with  Sejonius,  I  appeal  to  the  virtue  of 
my  conduct,  and  demand  investigation. 

"  As  to  what  Pontius  Pilate  says  in  regard  to  my 
cowardice  and  disobedience  in  the  case  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  I  will  say  in  my  own  defence  :  I  was  in- 
formed by  all  the  Jews  that  this  was  the  same  Jesus 
that  my  father  aimed  to  destroy  in  his  infancy  ;  for 
I  have  it  in  my  father's  private  writings  and  accounts 
of  his  life,  showing  that  when  the  report  was  circu- 
lated of  three  men  inquiring  where  was  he  that  was 


HEROD  ANTIPAS'S  DEFENCE.  159 

born  King  of  the  Jews,  he  called  together  the  Hillel 
and  Shammai  schools,  and  demanded  the  reading  of 
the  sacred  scrolls  ;  that  it  was  decided  he  was  to  be 
born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea,  as  read  and  interpreted 
that  night  by  Hillel.  So  when  my  father  learned 
that  there  was  a  birth  of  a  male  child  in  Bethlehem 
under  very  strange  circumstances,  and  he  could  not 
learn  who  nor  where  the  child  was,  he  sent  and  had 
the  male  children  slain  that  were  near  his  age. 
Afterward  he  learned  that  his  mother  had  taken  him 
and  fled  into  the  wilderness.  For  this  attempt  to 
uphold  the  Roman  authority  in  the  land  of  Judea 
the  world  has  not  ceased  to  curse  him  to  this  day  ; 
and  yet  the  Caesars  have  done  a  thousand  worse 
things,  and  done  them  a  thousand  times,  and  it  was 
all  well.  Just  think  how  many  lives  have  been  lost 
to  save  the  Roman  Empire  ;  while  those  infants  were 
only  removed  in  their  innocence  from  the  evil  to  come. 
The  proper  way  to  judge  of  action  is  to  let  the  actor 
judge,  or  the  one  with  whom  the  action  terminates. 
If  this  should  be  done,  and  there  is  a  life  of  happiness 
beyond  this  for  innocence  to  dwell  in,  those  infants  as 
well  as  the  Rachels  should  be  thankful  to  my  father 
for  the  change.  Again,  my  lords,  Pilate  is  a  higher 
officer  than  I ;  and  you  know  in  our  law  the  lower 
court  always  has  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  higher. 
As  to  Pilate's  saying  that  Jesus  was  a  Galilean, 
he  is  mistaken.  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of 
Judea,  as  the  records  show.  And  as  to  his  citizen- 
ship, he  had  none.  He  wandered  about  from  place  to 
place,  having  no  home,  making  his  abode  principally 


16()  THE  ARCHKO   VOLUME. 

with  the  poor.  He  was  a  wild  fanatic,  who  had 
taken  up  the  doctrines  of  John  (but  not  his  baptism), 
and  was  quite  an  enthusiast.  He  had  learned  sooth- 
saying, while  in  Egypt,  to  perfection.  I  tried  to  get 
him  to  perform  some  miracle  while  in  my  court,  but 
he  was  too  sharp  to  be  caught  in  a  trap  ;  like  all 
necromancers,  he  was  afraid  to  show  oS  before  the 
intelligent.  From  what  I  could  learn  he  had  repri- 
manded some  of  the  rich  Jews  for  their  meanness, 
and  his  reproaches  were  not  out  of  the  way,  from 
what  I  heard  they  would  have  been  much  better 
men  if  they  had  practised  what  he  preached. 

' '  So  this  is  my  defence.     I  submit  it  for  your  con- 
sideration, praying  for  clemency. 

"HEROD  ANTIPAS." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    HILLEL    LETTERS    REGARDING    GOD!S    PROVI- 
DENCE  TO   THE   JEWS,  BY   HILLEL   THE   THIRD. 

[THE  following  letters  were  translated  and  sent  to 
me  after  my  return  home — MAHAN.] 

First  Letter. 

"  To  the  noble  and  persecuted  sons  of  my  Father, 
God,  who  is  too  wise  to  err  in  His  judgment,  and  too 
mighty  to  let  His  kingdom  suffer  or  His  children 
to  be  persecuted  beyond  what  is  good  for  them : 
Beholding  our  desolate  condition,  we  must  know 
there  is  a  good  reason  somewhere.  From  our  former 
history,  and  the  dealings  of  God  with  our  fore- 
fathers, it  is  evident  that  it  is  not  because  He  is 
neglectful  of  the  interests  of  His  children.  It  must 
be  on  our  own  account. 

"  In  directing  your  thoughts  to  these  subjects,  it 
is  needful  to  call  your  attention  to  the  acts  of  God 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  By  this  we  may  learn 
the  cause  of  our  present  condition.  When  He  was 
dissatisfied  with  the  wicked  world  His  eyes  rested  on 
one  good  man,  Noah.  Now,  it  is  useless  for  us  to 
begin  a  controversy  as  to  how  Noah  became  good. 
That  is  nothing  to  us.  The  great  question  for  us  is, 
Are  we  good  ?  and  if  not,  why  are  we  wicked  ?  No 
11  (161) 


162  THE  AECHKO  VOLUME. 

doubt  this  is  the  reason  we  are  forsaken.  If  we 
could  not  help  our  being  wicked,  then  we  are  perse- 
cuted wrongfully.  But  it  was  the  goodness  of  Noah 
that  preserved  his  life,  and  made  him  a  great  and 
happy  man  ;  while  it  was  wickedness  that  caused  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  to  be  drowned. 

"  Then  follow  along  the  line  to  Abraham.  God 
found  him  faithful,  and  on  this  account  He  made  him 
the  father  of  all  that  are  faithful  and  good.  And  so 
with  hundreds  of  others  that  I  could  name  in  our 
former  history.  I  would  ask  all  the  Jews  in  their 
dispersed  condition  to  read  the  history  of  our  race 
and  see  the  dealings  of  God  to  the  good,  and  His 
judgments  upon  the  evil. 

"  Now,  God  makes  selections  of  certain  individ- 
uals to  relieve  others.  These  chosen  ones  may  not 
b6  good,  but  those  for  whom  they  are  selected  must 
be  good,  or  they  can  receive  no  favor  from  God. 

Look  at  Moses.  He  was  an  infant.  He  could 
neither  be  good  nor  bad,  because  he  was  at  that  time 
powerless.  But  Israel  was  good,  and  it  was  by  rea- 
son of  Israel's  goodness  that  Moses  was  selected. 
Hence,  from  this  babe  in  the  basket  we  find  the 
long  chain  of  displays  of  God's  mighty  works  in 
saving  and  defending  and  comforting  the  good, 
simply  and  alone  because  they  were  good  ;  and  this 
is  the  only  reason  why  God  has  ever  bestowed  special 
favors  on  anyone,  just  because  He  is  good,  and  I 
am  sure  this  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  justify  Him 
in  His  dealings  with  the  sons  of  men.  If  He  creates 
men,  and  gives  them  all  necessary  power  and  oppor- 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  163 

tunities  to  be  good  and  they  refuse,  then  they  are  to 
blame,  and  not  He.  This  is  the  reason  He  condemned 
the  world  to  a  flood.  This  is  the  reason  the  Egyp- 
tians were  drowned.  This  is  the  reason  the  So- 
domites were  burned.  This  is  the  reason  the  Ca- 
naanites  were  destroyed.  This  is  the  reason  we  were 
sold  into  Babylon.  And  oh  !  for  a  master  spirit  to 
rise  up,  as  did  Samuel  to  Saul,  to  tell  us  the  reason 
we  are  again  forsaken  and  cast  away  ;  why  is  it  that 
our  city  and  the  holy  temple  are  forsaken  and  deso- 
late ?  Why  is  it  that  God  fights  no  more  battles  for 
Israel  ?  Why  is  it  that  we  have  no  leader  that  it 
would  be  safe  for  the  people  to  follow  ?  Why  is  it 
that  Israel  is  turned  against  herself,  that  every  evil 
bird  is  permitted  to  pluck  her,  and  her  best  friends 
are  turned  to  be  her  enemies  ?  Why  is  it  that  Jose- 
phus  sold  Galilee  to  the  Romans  ?  Why  is  it  that 
the  sanctifying  of  the  Spirit  is  withdrawn  ?  Why  is 
it  that  the  Urim  and  the  Thummim  in  the  temple 
have  not  changed  the  color  of  its  stones  in  thirty 
years  ?  Why  is  it  that  the  light  of  the  threshold 
in  the  temple  has  ceased  to  burn  ?  And  why  is  it 
that  the  Jews  have  lost  the  feeling  of  brotherhood, 
and  fight  each  other  like  beasts  of  hell  until  God 
has  given  us  over,  and  permitted  the  Romans  to, 
devour  our  heritage,  to  burn  our  city,  to  destroy  our 
beloved  temple,  and  drench  it  with  the  blood  of  its 
devotees  ? 

' '  I  know  that  many  of  my  brethren,  more  partic- 
ularly the  priests,  will  bring  grave  charges  against 
the  ministration  and,  of  course,  indirectly  impeach 


164  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

God  ;  but  it  may  be,  my  brethren,  we  mistake  God's 
designs  in  all  this  thing.  And  may  we  not  be  equally 
mistaken  in  regard  to  our  desert  or  our  demerit  in 
His  dealing  with  us  ?  We  know  that  the  guilty  party 
is  apt  to  think  the  law  is  too  severe  ;  but  we  never 
think  so  when  others  are  to  suSer,  and  especially  if 
we  are  the  party  against  whom  the  criminal  has 
offended  and  done  wrong. 

"  When  a  Jew  becomes  mean  and  wicked  and  vio- 
lates the  Jewish  law  and  injures  us  personally,  then 
we  propose  to  stone  him  until  he  is  dead,  if  his  ac- 
tions have  been  such  to  deserve  such  a  sentence  ; 
and  we  are  equally  guilty  if  we  in  any  way  try  to 
screen  the  criminal  from  suffering  the  just  penalty  of 
the  law.  Now  let  us,  as  honest  Jews,  look  in  our 
own  natures  and  examine  our  actions  in  the  light  of 
God's  holy  revelation,  and  see  if  our  present  condi- 
tion is  not  deserving  on  our  part ;  and  if  we  find 
that  it  is  we  who  have  forsaken  God,  instead  of  His 
having  forsaken  us,  then  let  us  do  as  our  fathers  did 
in  Egypt ;  do  as  our  fathers  did  in  Babylon.  They 
hung  their  harps  ;  they  clothed  themselves  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes  ;  they  mourned  as  do  the  dove  and  the 
pelican.  So  did  they  seek  rest  until  the  Lord  God 
Jehovah  was  moved  with  compassion.  They  not 
only  ceased  to  act  wickedly,  but  they  showed  by 
their  regrets  and  acknowledgment  that  they  would 
act  differently  in  the  future  ;  and  God  had  compas- 
sion on  them,  and  moved  the  heart  of  their  wicked 
king  to  pity  them,  that  they  might  return  and  rebuild 
their  temple.  These  were  the  ways  in  which  they 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  165 

conducted  themselves  ;  and  look  at  the  results  that 
followed.  Now  these  things  were  for  their  own  good, 
and  they  were  recorded  that  we  might  learn  what  to 
do.  provided  we  should  be  brought  into  the  same 
condition. 

"  Now,  I  wish  my  Jewish  brethren  to  understand 
that  I  am  not  a  follower  of  this  Nazarene  that  has 
created  so  much  strife  among  the  people,  neither  do 
I  indorse  his  new  doctrines  ;  yet  I  think  it  would  be 
well  for  us  not  to  be  too  hasty  in  forming  our  conclu- 
sions on  this  or  any  other  subject.  I  heard  Peter 
preach  the  other  day,  and  as  he  and  John  came  out 
of  the  temple  there  was  a  man  that  had  been  lying 
around  at  the  gates  and  public  crossings  for  years. 
He  was  unable  to  walk,  having  no  soundness  in  his 
feet  and  ankle-bones.  As  they  were  passing  him  he 
-asked  them  for  help.  Peter  said  he  had  nothing  to 
give,  but,  said  he,  '  In  the  name  of  Jesus  the  Son  of 
God,  I  say  unto  thee,  rise  up  and  walk  ;'  and  the 
man  sprang  to  his  feet,  seemingly  perfectly  sound, 
and  commenced  praising  God  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
which  caused  a  great  commotion  among  the  people, 
and  the  police  came  and  took  Peter  and  John  to 
prison  as  peace-breakers.  I  thought  I  never  saw 
such  an  outrage.  It  is  right  to  arrest  men  for  doing 
evil,  but  to  arrest  and  imprison  men  for  doing  good 
is  something  I  cannot  comprehend.  This  has  been 
the  fault  of  us  Jews  in  all  time.  No  odds  what  good 
was  done,  if  it  was  not  done  just  as  the  priest  thought 
it  ought  to  be  done,  it  was  wrong.  When  I  saw  the 
act  of  Peter  toward  the  helpless  man,  I  said  to  my- 


166  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

self,  '  There  is  the  power  of  Moses ;  there  is  the 
power  of  Jehovah  manifest  in  human  flesh  ;  there  is 
the  power  needed  by  us  Jews  to  reinstate  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  ;  this  is  the  power  that  has  followed 
the  Jews  in  times  past,  and  the  only  distinguishing 
mark  that  makes  us  different  from  the  other  nations 
of  the  earth.  This  was  the  peculiar  power  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  ;  and  because  he  did  not  work  accord- 
ing to  Jewish  rule  they  condemned  him  to  die.  It 
was  not  because  his  works  were  not  good  works,  but 
because  he  did  not  do  them  according  to  Jewish 
custom.' 

"  I  was  forcibly  struck  with  Peter's  sermon.  He 
said  :  '  There  was  a  rich  man  who  had  one  son. 
This  son  had  been  trying  for  a  long  time  to  build 
him  a  house.  He  was  homeless  and  exposed  to  many 
dangers  and  trouble  for  the  want  of  a  house,  until 
he  was  almost  exhausted  and  was  ready  to  perish. 
And  his  father  had  compassion  on  his  son  and  built 
him  a  house,  with  everything  needful  for  the  necessi- 
ties and  comforts  of  his  child.  And  when  it  was 
finished  he  went  and  brought  his  son  to  see  it.  And 
his  son  was  delighted,  and  said  it  was  much  better 
than  he  could  have  built  himself.  And  his  father 
said,  "  Son,  I  love  you.  I  give  you  this  house.  Will 
you  accept  it  ?"  "  With  all  my  heart,  dear  father, 
with  grateful  acknowledgments."  Now,'  Peter  said, 
'  here  is  the  picture  of  the  world  which  has  been 
working,  struggling,  and  striving  for  ages  to  build 
them  a  home  for  the  soul  of  man.  They  have  worked 
by  the  laws  of  men,  by  building  fine  temples,  by 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  167 

offering  sacrifices,  by  paying  tithes  to  the  Lord,  by 
walking  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  temple  barefooted 
and  bareheaded,  by  keeping  holy  days  and  festivals, 
and  all  to  no  purpose.  The  soul  has  become  wearied 
out  of  patience,  and  still  no  rest,  until  man  has  be- 
come dissatisfied  not  only  with  himself,  but  with  his 
God  and  his  service.  And  while  in  this  despairing 
condition  God  our  Father  comes  in  the  person  of 
Jesus,  whom  the  Jews  crucified  and  in  his  death  he 
prepared  a  house. of  rest,  and  now  proposes  to  his 
children  to  accept  what  he  has  done  for  them,  and 
stop  working  and  worrying  to  try  to  fit  themselves 
for  a  higher  station  and  a  happier  life.'  And  Peter 
asked,  '  Who  will  accept  ?' 

"Again  Peter  said  :  '  This  house  was  beautiful  to 
look  at,  and  was  in  every  way  suited  to  the  son,  yet 
he  could  not  enjoy  it  from  the  fact  that  it  had  no 
furniture.  So  the  son  went  to  work  and  toiled  and 
labored  trying  to  make  furniture  to  suit  himself.  But 
notwithstanding  he  could  not  get  a  piece  that  would 
last.  And  it  soon  became  useless  because  it  did  not 
suit  him.  Then  the  father  went  to  work  and  made 
all  manner  of  ware,  and  presented  it  to  his  son. 
Every  piece  fitted  the  place  and  suited  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  made,  so  that  the  son  was  well  pleased. 
And  the  father  said  :  "All  this  will  I  give  you,  my 
son,  because  I  love  you.  Will  you  accept  ?"  The 
son  said,  "  With  all  my  heart,  dear  father  ;  this 
pleases  me  better  than  if  I  had  had  the  power  to 
make  it  myself."  Now,'  said  Peter,  '  this  is  what 
God  has  done  for  the  world.  Instead  of  purifying 


108  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

•ourselves  by  washing,  by  fasting,  by  prayers,  by  pen- 
itence, and  by  all  the  works  of  the  law,  God  has 
given  us  a  purity  that  will  last  forever,  that  will  suit 
us  and  will  please  Him.' 

"  Again  said  Peter:  '  This  son  was  all  ragged. 
His  clothes  were  worn  threadbare  in  trying  to  build 
and  fit  him  a  house,  and  he  was  ashamed.  So  he  went 
to  work  to  try  to  clothe  himself  ;  and  the  harder  he 
worked  the  less  success  rewarded  him.  And  after 
he  had  worked  hard,  his  father  went  to  work  and 
wove  him  a  seamless  robe,  and  presented  it  to  his 
son,  and  said,  "  My  son,  I  love  you,  and  I  have  pre- 
pared a  white  robe ;  will  you  accept  it  ?"  "  With 
many  thanks,  dear  father,"  said  the  son.  "  Oh,  how 
beautiful  it  is  !  How  snowy  white  !  How  well  it  fits 
me  !  Oh  !  father,  I  never  can  feel  grateful  enough. 
I  thought  thou  wast  angry  and  hated  me,  because  I 
was  poor  and  homeless  and  miserable  and  ragged  ; 
but  if  thou  didst  love  me  in  my  misery,  I  know  thou 
canst  love  me  now,  and  will  delight  to  make  thy 
abode  with  me  forevermore.  Oh  !  father,  I  don't 
know  how  to  show  my  gratitude  to  thee."  The  son 
was  delighted  with  the  change,  while  the  father 
was  equally  delighted  with  the  son,  and  they  both 
rejoiced.  And  the  father  said  to  the  son :  "  I  delight 
to  dwell  with  my  children  when  they  live  in  a  man- 
ner that  is  suited  to  my  taste  ;  and,  of  course,  this 
suits  me,  from  the  fact  it  is  all  my  own  work. 
Only  be  content,  and  do  not  soil  thy  robe,  for  it 
is  so  white  and  clean,  a  very  little  mixing  with  dirt 
and  filth  will  so  contaminate  it,  it  will  not  be  fit  to 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  169- 

be  seen.  And  as  long  as  you  keep  it  unspotted  from 
the  world  it  will  distinguish  you  from  the  world 
and  make  you  a  welcome  visitor  into  the  company 
of  all  that  are  dressed  in  the  same  robe  ;  for  this  is 
merely  the  outward  showing  of  the  principles  that 
live  within  ;  which  principles  are  only  developed  by 
the  outward  appearance.  And  even  it  will  be  ad- 
mired by  those  who  may  reject  it ;  yet  inwardly  they 
must  respect  it.  Though  they  may  covet  it,  and  raise 
the  spirit  of  persecution  against  you,  it  is  not  be- 
cause they  dislike  you,  but  because  they  are  not  like 
you  ;  and  this  is  the  cause  of  envy  everywhere." 
This,'  said  Peter,  '  is  the  way  God  our  Father  has 
treated  us  spiritually.  He  has  prepared  us  a  holy 
habitation,  where  our  immortal  souls  can  live  and 
be  happy  through  all  eternity,  and  then  has  given 
us  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  same  that  Jesus  promised  and 
the  same  that  fell  on  the  people  the  other  day.  This 
spirit  renews  and  begets  within  us  holy  desires  to 
love  God  and  to  serve  Him  by  obeying  all  His  com- 
mands and  doing  honor  to  His  name.  And  this 
same  spirit  begets  within  us  a  holy  desire  to  see  all 
men  embrace  the  oSering  of  this  good  and  noble 
Father,  that  they  may  be  happy  now  and  happy 
forever,  more  so  after  death  than  before  ;  for  it  is  the 
dread  of  meeting  an  interminable  doom  for  our 
sins  that  makes  our  lives  intolerable.  Oh  !'  said 
Peter,  '  behold  the  riches  offered  on  terms  so  easy 
by  our  Father.  All  we  need  is  to  accept.  Who 
will  accept  ?'  And  there  were  two  or  three  hundred 
who  cried  out,  '  We  will ;'  and  then  followed  a 


170  THE  ARGHKO  VOLUME. 

mighty  rising  up  and  rejoicing,  all  of  which  made 
a  very  strong  impression  on  my  mind. 

"  I  am  going  to  make  a  most  thorough  examina- 
tion into  these  things  to  see  if  they  are  so — if  God 
has  provided  an  easier  and  a  better  way  to  save  the 
souls  of  men  than  the  Jewish  economy.  I  feel  that 
the  subject  is  worth  looking  into  ;  for  of  long  time 
it  has  seemed  to  me  (and  my  father  saw  and  spoke 
of  the  same)  that  the  ways  of  God's  service  were 
exacting,  and  apt  to  make  men  become  indifferent, 
and  almost  to  look  on  God  as  a  haughty  tyrant ; 
Avhile  Peter's  illustration  shows  Him  in  such  a  lovely 
light  it  makes  me  love  Him." 

Second  Letter. 

"  After  having  viewed  our  present  condition,  it 
may  be  well  for  us  to  look  back  and  review  our  for- 
mer history,  and  get  a  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the 
world  in  former  times.  If  we  look  at  the  world  from 
the  pages  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Haggai,  the  last 
of  God's  prophets  upon  earth,  we  will  see  a  period 
of  nearly  five  hundred  years  to  the  present,  during 
which  time  the  world  underwent  greater  changes 
than  ever  before..  We  will  see  our  nation  returning 
from  a  seventy  years'  captivity,  recommencing  their 
national  existence  after  having  been  overrun  and 
absorbed  in  the  first  great  monarchy  that  swept  over 
the  earth.  Our  acquaintance  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  was  very  limited,  extending  only  to  the  Chal- 
deans, the  Phoenicians,  the  Egyptians,  and  a  few 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  171 

unimportant  tribes.  Our  ideas  seem  to  have  been 
likewise  limited,  extending  but  little  beyond  the 
principles  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  which  had  been 
promulgated  about  fifteen  hundred  years  before. 

' '  I  am  informed  that  the  accusation  against  Jesus 
was  written  over  him  as  he  hung  upon  the  cross,  in 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.  Whence  came  these  dia- 
lects ?  When  the  prophets  closed  their  writings  (which 
was  nearly  five  hundred  years  ago),  the  Greek  was 
scarcely  a  written  language,  confined  to  a  small  part 
of  Europe,  and  Rome,from  which  the  Latin  language 
came,  was  a  straggling  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber.  During  this  whole  period,  in  which  nations 
and  monarchies  were  born,  flourished,  and  decayed 
(showing  clearly  a  providential  preparation),  the 
intermingling  of  the  various  languages  indicates 
preparation  for  some  great  event,  and  to  my  mind 
makes  the  juncture  most  opportune  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  universal  religion.  That  is,  if  I  under- 
stand it  aright,  God  has  arranged  the  position  and 
the  existence  of  the  several  nations  of  the  earth  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  promote  the  recognition,  the 
establishment,  and  the  propagation  of  true  religion, 
the  knowledge  and  worship  of  the  true  God. 

"  Whatever  knowledge  may  have  been  imparted 
to  our  ancestors,  or  however  long  it  may  have  lasted, 
certain  it  is  that  at  the  time  of  Abraham  the  nations 
generally  had  fallen  into  idolatry.  To  him  God  was 
pleased  to  make  himself  known,  and  to  promise  that 
of  him  He  would  make  a  great  nation,  and  in  him 
and  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 


172  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

blessed.  That  is,  through  him  and  his  posterity  he 
would  impart  the  greatest  possible  good,  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God.  To  accomplish  this  purpose 
God  selected  the  spot  in  which  he  and  his  posterity 
were  to  be  placed  ;  and  no  spot  on  earth  could  have 
been  better  suited  for  the  purpose.  The  land  of 
Canaan,  afterward  called  Judea,  afterward  called 
Palestine,  a  tract  of  country  situated  about  midway 
between  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  earth — Asia, 
Africa,  and  Europe — on  the  great  highway  of  na- 
tions, in  the  very  path  of  conquest,  commerce,  and 
travel,  was  equally  accessible  to  all  parts  of  the  then 
known  world. 

"  But  those  circumstances  which  afterward  made 
Judea  so  favorably  located  as  the  radiating  point  of 
the  true  faith  did  not  exist  in  the  time  of  Abraham. 
There  was  neither  conquest  nor  commerce  nor 
travel.  The  world  was  overrun  by  wandering 
tribes,  scarcely  having  boundaries  or  fixed  habita- 
tions. Chaldea,  the  cradle  of  the  human  race,  and 
Egypt,  the  birthplace  of  human  learning  and  the 
arts,  were  the  only  nations  of  consequence  at  that 
time.  It  is  not  probable  that  any  such  thing  as 
alphabetic  writing  existed  ;  for  we  read  that  Abraham 
took  no  other  evidence  of  the  purchase  which  he 
made  of  a  burying-place  for  his  family  than  living 
witnesses  of  the  bargain.  At  that  period,  therefore, 
divine  communication  must  have  been  confined  to 
individuals.  The  fulness  of  time  had  not  yet  come 
even  for  that  partial  revelation  which  was  made  by 
Moses.  There  was  no  mode  by  which  it  could  be 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  173 

recorded  and  preserved.  The  invention  of  writing 
was  necessary  to  prepare  the  world  for  it.  That  in- 
vention took  place  some  time  within  the  five  hundred 
years  which  elapsed  between  Abraham  and  Moses. 

' '  Into  Egypt,  the  mother  of  the  arts,  the  posterity 
of  Abraham  were  sent  as  if  to  school,  not  in  divine 
things  (for  in  the  knowledge  of  them  the  shepherds 
of  Canaan  as  far  exceeded  the  refined  Egyptians  as 
light  exceeds  darkness),  but  in  the  knowledge  of 
those  things  by  which  life  is  rendered  comfortable. 
When  they  had  become  sufficiently  numerous  to  take 
possession  of  the  destined  territory,  a  leader  was 
raised  up  for  that  especial  purpose — Moses,  the  child 
of  a  slave,  his  life  exposed  in  infancy  in  a  frail  cradle 
of  rushes  upon  the  waters,  yet  destined  to  be  the 
mightiest  agent  in  the  affairs  of  men  that  the 
Almighty  had  ever  employed  on  earth.  Who  can 
but  admire  the  wisdom  of  Divine  Providence  in  the 
education  of  this  great  founder  of  nations,  this 
prophet  of  divine  truth,  this  enlightener  of  the 
world  ?  Who  can  apprehend  the  glorious  position 
which  he  holds  in  the  world's  history  ?  What  a  dis- 
tinction to  have  framed  the  constitution  of  a  nation 
which  lasted  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  stamped  a. 
people  with  the  marks  of  nationality  which  time 
itself  has  not  obliterated  !  To  have  written  a  book 
which  has  been  read  with  interest  and  ardor  by  pass- 
ing ages  and  growing  millions  of  the  human  race  ! 
To  impart  to  nations  and  continents  the  saving 
knowledge  of  the  one  true  God  !  What  a  glory  to 
have  laid  by  one  sentence  the  foundation  of  true 


174  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

religion  in  so  many  millions  of  minds  :  '  In  the  be- 
ginning God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.' 

"  The  more  I  contemplate  the  mission  of  Moses, 
the  higher  he  rises  in  moral  sublimity  in  my  estima- 
tion. If  I  contemplate  him  during  the  forty  years 
of  his  sojourn  in  the  wilderness,  he  is  the  only  depos- 
itory of  the  true  religion  on  earth,  with  the  exception 
of  the  tribe  he  led.  The  whole  world  was  sunk  in 
the  debasement  of  idolatry.  What  a  noble  use  did 
the  Almighty  make  of  the  recent  invention  of  man's 
ingenuity,  the  invention  of  letters,  to  engrave  upon 
stone  his  awful  testimony  against  the  great,  funda- 
mental, and  all-polluting  sin  of  the  world,  the  wor- 
ship of  idols :  '  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods  before 
me  ;  thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image, 
or  the  likeness  of  anything  that  is  in  the  heaven 
above  or  in  the  earth  beneath  ;  thou  shalt  not  bow 
down  thyself  to  them  nor  serve  them.'  To  realize 
and  carry  out  this  one  thing  was  the  purpose  in  sep- 
arating the  Jews  from  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  and 
with  all  the  seals  and  signs,  and  God's  special  judg- 
ments, it  took  fourteen  hundred  years  to  do  it,  so 
prone  are  we  to  worship  the  things  that  are  seen, 
instead  of  the  unseen.  And  this  is  one  of  the  great 
troubles  at  the  present  day.  This  is  one  reason  of 
our  desolation.  We  thought  too  much  of  our  holy 
city  and  temple  ;  but  if  this  was  our  sin,  what  might 
we  expect  from  men  in  the  state  of  ignorance  in  the 
days  of  Moses  ?  Oh,  brethren,  let  us  ask  ourselves, 
are  we  not  more  inclined  to  worship  the  created 
things  than  we  are  to  worship  Him  who  created 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  175 

them  ?  Look  at  this  people  I  am  speaking  of.  Forty 
days  had  not  elapsed  from  the  utterance  from  Sinai 
of  this  fundamental  precept,  '  Thou  shalt  have  no 
other  Gods  before  me,'  when  the  very  people  to  whom 
this  command  was  given  made  for  themselves  a  gol- 
den calf,  after  the  manner  of  the  idolatrous  Egyp- 
tians, and  danced  before  it  with  great  joy.  To  secure 
this  one  grand  and  fundamental  point  (that  is,  the 
worship  of  the  only  living  and  true  God),  the  whole 
Mosaic  economy  was  modelled.  For  this  purpose 
we  were  forbidden  to  marry  foreigners  ;  for  this  pur- 
pose our  sacrifices  were  all  to  be  offered  in  one  place, 
and  by  one  family  of  priests,  lest  we  should  wander 
away  and  become  corrupt  by  association  with  idola- 
ters. For  this  purpose  we  were  forbidden  certain 
kinds  of  food,  such  as  were  offered  in  sacrifices  to 
heathen  deities.  We  were  not  to  be  present  at  idol- 
atrous feasts,  nor  to  become  accustomed  to  those 
moral  abominations  with  which  heathen  worship  was 
invariably  accompanied.  More  effectually  to  secure 
this  point,  Divine  Providence  so  arranged  it  that 
our  national  existence  and  prosperity  depended  on 
our  fidelity  to  the  great  purpose  for  which  we  were 
set  apart.  Whenever  we  worshipped  the  true  God 
and  obeyed  His  laws,  temporal  prosperity  was  the 
natural  consequence  ;  then  were  union  and  peace 
and  industry  and  prosperity.  But  whenever  we  for- 
sook God  and  worshipped  idols,  a  corresponding  de- 
generacy of  morals  and  manners  took  place.  This 
was  followed  by  discord,  weakness,  poverty,  and  sub- 
jection to  foreign  nations. 


176  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  But  the  event  which  exerted  the  most  decisive 
influence  upon  the  national  existence  of  us  Jews  was 
the  erection  of  Solomon's  temple  at  Jerusalem.  Be- 
fore that  time  our  sacred  rites  had  been  conducted  in 
a  very  humble  manner.  Our  sacred  utensils  had  no 
better  covering  than  a  tent.  Often  they  were  in  pri- 
vate custody  ;  and  once  the  sacred  ark  itself,  which 
contained  the  heaven-derived  charter  of  our  national 
existence,  was  taken  captive  and  remained  for  months 
in  the  country  of  the  Philistines.  That  ark  for  nearly 
four  hundred  years  was  almost  the  only  bond  of  our 
national  union,  the  only  object  around  which  gath- 
ered our  national  reverence  ;  and,  although  in  our 
younger  years  we  were  apt  to  regard  that  ark  and 
its  contents  with  a  childish  curiosity,  in  after  years 
we  came  to  look  upon  it  as  an  object  of  higher  sig- 
nificance. It  is  the  written  testimony  of  God  against 
idolatry.  It  contains  the  fundamental  articles  of 
our  nation's  constitution.  It  is  a  charter  from  God 
for  a  nation's  establishment  and  independence.  It 
is  a  declaration  of  principles,  which  was  borne  before 
us  like  a  banner,  proclaiming  to  the  world  for  what 
we  were  to  live,  for  what  we  were  to  fight,  for  what 
we  were  to  die.  It  was  our  confession  of  faith,  which 
we  upheld  before  the  world  as  sacred,  true,  and  vital 
to  the  best  interest  of  humanity,  and  the  only  hope 
of  our  final  success.  Once  abandon  this  and  we  are 
lost,  disgraced,  fallen  forever.  On  the  tables  in  that 
ark  were  written  :  '  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Gods 
before  me  ;'  and,  '  Thou  shalt  not  make  any  graven 
image,  nor  the  likeness  of  anything  ;  thou  shalt  not 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  177 

bow  down  to  anything  to  serve  them.'  There  it  re- 
mains from  age  to  age  as  the  memorial  of  the  purpose 
of  our  national  existence  ;  and  how  mightily  has  it 
worked  in  the  earth  ! 

"  There  is  an  incident  related  by  the  sacred  his- 
torian which  may  seem  symbolical  of  the  mission  of 
the  whole  dispensation  which  that  sacred  inclosure 
contained.  It  is  the  fifth  section  of  Samuel :  '  And 
the  Philistines  took  the  ark  and  brought  it  from 
Ebenezer  to  Ashdod.  When  the  Philistines  took 
the  ark  of  God,  they  brought  it  into  the  house  of 
Dagon  ;  and  when  they  of  Ashdod  arose  early  on 
the  morrow,  behold,  Dagon  was  fallen  upon  his  Jace 
to  the  earth  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  and  they 
took  Dagon  and  set  him  in  his  place  again  ;  and 
when  they  rose  early  on  the  morrow  morning,  behold, 
Dagon  was  fallen  to  his  face  to  the  ground  again  be- 
fore the  ark  of  the  Lord,  and  the  head  of  Dagon 
and  the  palms  of  his  hands  were  cut  off  upon  the 
threshold  :  only  the  stump  of  Dagon  was  left  unto 
him.' 

' '  So  is  all  idolatry  destined  to  fall  before  the  word 
of  the  Almighty.  So  has  our  Dagon  fallen — and 
oh  !  what  a  dreadful  fall  it  is  to  us  Israelites.  Let 
me  tell  you  what  was  achieved  in  the  Temple  of 
Azotus  was  gradually  accomplished  throughout  the 
land  of  Israel.  Many  times  has  Dagon  been  set  up 
in  his  place  again  ;  many  times  has  idolatry  been 
revived  ;  the  ark  of  God  has  been  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  (it  is  there  now  at  this  time),  and  the  true 
religion  about  to  be  extinguished,  when  the  Almighty 
12 


178  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

interposed  to  vindicate  His  honor  and  reestablish 
His  worship,  and  at  last  obtained  a  triumph  by  the 
very  means  which  at  first  threatened  to  overthrow 
it  forever. 

"  I  have  said  that  the  objects  of  our  national  ex- 
istence were  greatly  promoted  by  the  building  of  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem.  It  was  a  splendid  edifice,  cal- 
culated to  awaken  the  curiosity,  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion, and  command  the  respect  of  the  world.  It 
furnished  a  place  of  appropriate  convenience,  beauty, 
and  dignity  for  the  celebration  of  our  daily  sacrifices 
and  our  national  rites.  It  made  more  interesting 
our  three  yearly  festivals  when  all  the  males  were 
obliged  to  present  themselves  before  God.  It  gave 
us  what  we  all  need  at  this  time — a  fixture  to  our 
religion,  a  local  habitation  to  our  religious  applica- 
tions and  associations.  It  connected  the  sentiment 
of  religion  with  another  no  less  strong — that  of  patri- 
otism— and  enlisted  them  both  in  the  maintenance 
and  defence  of  the  national  institutions  of  Moses ; 
and  it  also  led  to  the  formation  of  a  national  litera- 
ture which  gave  expression  to  these  two  most  power- 
ful sentiments  of  the  human  heart,  and  thus  operated 
to  call  forth  and  strengthen  them  in  each  succeeding 
generation. 

'  Still  the  Mosaic  institutions,  assisted  by  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  temple  service,  failed  to  extirpate 
entirely  the  propensity  to  idolatry.  Occasionally  it 
sprang  up  and  overspread  the  country,  till  at  last 
the  Almighty  saw  fit  to  suffer  that  temple  to  be  over- 
thrown, His  people  to  be  carried  into  captivity,  and 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  179 

His  worship  to  be  suspended  for  seventy  years  ;  and 
His  judgments  accomplished  what  His  mercies  could 
not  do.  The  very  measure  of  Divine  severity  which 
at  first  sight  threatened  to  sweep  the  worship  of  the 
true  God  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  give  up  the 
world  to  the  interminable  dominion  of  idolatry,  was 
the  means  of  establishing  it  on  a  firmer  basis  than 
ever.  Although  Jerusalem  was  overthrown  and  the 
temple  razed  to  its  foundation,  the  Jews  carried  the 
true  Jerusalem  in  their  hearts.  And  so  it  is  to-day. 
Although  our  holy  city  is  no  more,  and  although  we 
are  dispersed  and  many  of  us  sold  into  slavery,  yet 
the  holy  temple  of  our  God  lives  and  will  continue 
to  live  in  our  hearts  forever.  Wherever  we  go, 
whether  in  the  splendid  cities  of  the  East,  or  amid 
the  fascinations  of  Egypt,  or  the  tents  of  the  wan- 
dering shepherds,  still  our  affections  will  be  in  the 
holy  land,  and,  like  Daniel,  we  will  turn  our  faces 
toward  the  land  where  our  fathers  worshipped  the 
God  of  heaven. 

"  Nehemiah,  when  serving  in  the  courts  of  princes, 
lamented  when  he  heard  that  the  walls  of  Jerusalem 
were  thrown  down.  There  in  slavery,  our  fathers 
had  time  to  reflect  upon  the  cause  of  their  calami- 
ties ;  there  they  read  in  the  Book  of  Moses,  which 
was  the  companion  of  their  exile,  the  awful  curses 
He  had  threatened  them  if  they  forsook  the  worship 
of  the  true  God,  and  felt  them  to  be  fulfilled  in 
themselves  ;  there  they  read  the  prophecy  which 
had  been  written  by  Moses  more  than  a  thousand 
years  before  in  the  book,  in.,  section  22  :  'If  thou 


180  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

wilt  not  observe  to  do  all  the  words  of  this  law  that 
are  written  in  this  book,  that  thou  mayest  fear  this 
glorious  and  fearful  name,  the  Lord  thy  God,  the 
Lord  will  scatter  thee  among  all  people,  from  one 
end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  and  among  these  na- 
tions thou  shalt  find  no  ease,  neither  shall  the  sole  of 
thy  foot  have  rest ;  but  the  Lord  will  give  thee  then 
a  trembling  heart  and  failing  eyes,  and  sorrow  of 
mind,  and  thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee  : 
and  thou  shalt  fear  night  and  day,  and  have  no 
assurance  of  thy  life.  In  the  morning  thou  shalt 
say,  Would  God  it  were  evening,  and  at  even  thou 
shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were  morning!  for  the 
fear  of  thine  heart  wherewith  thou  shalt  fear,  and 
for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see.' 
Thus  were  our  fathers  smitten  to  the  heart  by  the 
fulfilment  of  such  awful  threatenings.  All  propen- 
sity to  idolatry  was  forever  cured.  Never  after  this 
period  could  the  allurements  of  pleasure  or  the 
threats  of  pain,  neither  dens  of  wild  beasts  nor  the 
fiery  furnace,  neither  instant  death  nor  lingering 
torture,  ever  induce  them  to  offer  sacrifice  to  idol 
gods.  This  same  Providence  which  had  scattered 
them  in  foreign  lands,  now  restored  them  to  their 
own.  Their  temple  was  rebuilt,  the  daily  sacrifice 
was  resumed  and  was  never  intermitted,  with  the 
exception  of  about  three  years  under  Antiochus 
Epiphanes. 

"  But  now  let  us  look  at  our  present  state,  and 
see  how  we,  their  children,  have  fallen  :  The  ark 
once  more  is  taken  from  us ;  Jerusalem  is  in  ruins, 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  181 

trodden  by  the  foot  of  the  Gentiles  ;  ruin  has  driven 
her  ploughshare  through  the  crumbling  walls,  and 
we  are  scattered  to  mix  and  mingle  among  all 
nations." 

Third  Letter. 

"As  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  lacked  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God  except  us  Jews,  it  devolved 
on  us  as  a  nation  to  extend  this  knowledge  to  all  the 
world,  which  was  brought  about  by  the  following 
plan  :  First,  by  the  universal  diffusion  of  the  Greek 
language,  and,  secondly,  by  the  conquest  of  the  world 
by  the  Romans.  Another  cause  almost  as  essential 
was  the  scattering  of  our  nation  among  all  nations 
of  the  earth,  for  narrowness  and  bigotry  had  almost 
made  us  a  barren  tree  as  to  any  general  good  for  the 
world.  So  ancient  were  our  habits  and  fixed  our 
customs  that  spiritual  life  was  almost  extinct ;  there- 
fore it  was  necessary  for  us  even  to  learn  a  new  lan- 
guage, that  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  might  be 
infused  into  a  new  medium,  and  thus  be  spread  from 
land  to  land.  It  was  necessary  that  the  true  medi- 
cine of  life  should  be  dissolved  in  an  element  which 
flowed  on  every  shore  and  in  every  stream  that  all 
men  might  taste  thereof  and  be  saved.  It  was  neces- 
sary, too,  that  a  foreign  language  should  be  forced 
upon  us  ;  for  nothing  but  conquest  and  constraint, 
nothing  but  this,  could  overcome  our  bitter  preju- 
dices. It  will  be  the  object  of  this  letter  to  show 
how  this  was  brought  about. 

"  The  great  designs  of  God  were  advanced  by  our 


182  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

misfortunes  as  well  as  by  our  prosperity,  and  in 
God's  purpose  of  preparing  the  world  for  the  ad- 
vent of  a  higher  life  and  greater  attainment  in 
godliness,  each  event  had  a  ripening  tendency. 
Whether  we  worshipped  in  Jerusalem  in  peace  or 
wept  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  everywhere  and  under 
all  circumstances  we  taught  a  knowledge  of  the  true 
God  ;  and  everywhere  our  nation  has  cherished  the 
hope  of  triumph  in  the  expectation  of  a  coming 
Messiah.  The  first  great  empire  to  which  Judea  fell 
a  prey  was  the  Babylonian.  Jerusalem  was  destroyed 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  five  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
years  ago  ;  and  the  remnant  of  the  people  was  car- 
ried to  Babylon  and  the  neighboring  countries, 
whither  the  main  body  had  been  removed  eighteen 
years  before.  The  glimpses  of  those  times  and  coun- 
tries are  very  short,  but  enough  is  given  us  to  see 
that  the  residence  of  our  fathers  in  those  countries 
was  not  without  effect. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  put  out  the  light  of  a  Jew's 
eye,  or  to  extinguish  the  fire  that  burns  in  his  heart ; 
and  the  life  of  our  fathers  made  lasting  effects  both 
on  the  people  they  were  with  and  themselves  also. 
One  person  especially  adorned  that  dark  period  of 
God's  exiled  Church.  The  prophet,  Daniel,  gives 
us  almost  the  only  sight  we  get  of  mighty  Baby- 
lon ;  his  wri tings  furnish  us  with  a  number  of  great 
truths.  He  passes  before  us  from  youthful  beauty  to 
extreme  age.  We  see  him  rising,  like  Joseph,  by 
early  wisdom,  piety,  and  integrity,  from  slavery,  to 
be  the  chief  minister  of  State,  and  it  is  altogether 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  183 

probable  that  it  was  through  him  that  Cyrus  was 
prompted  to  restore  our  people  to  our  holy  land 
again.  The  edict  was  issued  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign,  immediately  after  the  capture  of  Babylon, 
which  Daniel  had  foretold  by  interpreting  the  writ- 
ing on  the  wall. 

"  But  the  restoration  of  our  nation,  an  event 
so  wonderful  and  strange  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  though  properly  attributed  to  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  was  brought  about  by  means  more 
circuitous  than  is  generally  supposed.  Fifty  or  a 
hundred  thousand  Jews  did  not  live  in  Babylonia, 
Media,  and  Persia  seventy  years — making  such  a 
singularly  religious  impression — for  nothing.  Our 
people  appear  to  have  been  treated  with  much  more 
respect  among  these  oriental  nations  than  in  the 
western  world.  The  reason  of  this,  probably,  was 
that  the  Persians,  like  the  Arabians,  their  neighbors, 
had  not  forsaken  the  patriarchal  religion  or  sunk 
into  such  gross  and  degrading  idolatry  as  those 
nations  which  had  wandered  farthest  from  the  pater- 
nal hearthstone  of  the  human  race 

It  is  in  this  period  of  our  nation's  sojourn  in  the  East 
that  the  famous  reformer,  Zoroaster,  appeared.  I  look 
upon  him  as  the  second  Moses,  though  without  inspira- 
tion ;  but,  availing  himself  of  the  light  of  the  true  reve- 
lation, he  attempted  not  to  introduce  a  new  religion, 
but  to  refine,  purify,  and  build  up  the  religion  of  his 
country  by  introducing  into  it  the  most  important 
principles  of  the  true  faith,  and  thus,  with  a  mixture 
of  base  and  noble  motives,  to  benefit  his  country, 


184  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

and  reflect  glory  on  himself.  The  secret  of  his  suc- 
cess was,  he  taught  the  theology  of  Moses,  aud  his 
theology  was  so  simple  and  sublime,  and  so  consonant 
at  the  same  time  with  the  best  conceptions  of  man- 
kind that  it  clothed  this  impostor  with  the  veneration 
of  his  countrymen,  and  sanctified  even  his  crimes 
and  follies.  It  was  from  Moses  that  Zoroaster  de- 
rived the  idea  of  one  living  God,  the  maker  of 
heaven  and  earth  ;  but  he  corrupted  this  pure  doc- 
trine by  making  two  subordinate  gods,  the  authors 
respectively  of  good  and  evil.  From  Moses  he  re- 
ceived an  utter  abhorrence  of  all  images  and  of  the 
temples  in  which  they  were  worshipped,  but  he  in- 
troduced, in  connection  with  the  true  faith,  the  doc- 
trine of  evil  spirits  dividing  the  government  of  the 
universe.  So  it  happened  that  there  was  not  only 
an  impress  of  the  religion  of  our  fathers  upon  that  of 
the  Persians,  but  a  reaction  of  the  Persian  religion 
upon  that  of  our  nation. 

"  The  Jews,  as  would  appear  from  the  book  of 
Tobit,  first  learned  in  their  captivity  those  ideas  of 
the  agency  of  evil  spirits  in  the  world,  of  which  we 
find  traces  in  all  their  histories.  Cyrus  was  a  Per- 
sian, and  in  all  probability  had  been  instructed  in 
the  doctrines  of  Zoroaster,  a  combination,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  Judaism  and  the  ancient  Persian  religion  ; 
hence  his  extraordinary  partiality  for  the  Jews  is 
explained,  and  his  zeal  in  rebuilding  the  only  temple 
on  earth  which  was  dedicated  in  his  name  to  the  God 
of  heaven,  and  was  free  from  the  all-pervading  and 
polluting  sin  or  idol- worship. 


THE  IJILLEL  LETTERS.  185 

"  But  the  influence  of  Zoroaster  did  not  end  here. 
The  successors  of  Cyrus  were  educated  in  his  relig- 
ion. The  priests  and  teachers  of  his  religion  were 
called  Magi,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  the 
State.  Darius  Hystaspes,  son-in-law  and  successor  of 
Cyrus,  warmly  espoused  the  religion  of  the- Persian 
philosopher,  and  when  Zoroaster  was  slain  by  an 
eruption  of  the  Scythians,  he  amply  avenged  his 
death,  and  rebuilt  the  fine  temples  which  the  Scyth- 
ians had  destroyed,  especially,  and  with  more  splendor 
than  before,  the  one  in  which  Zoraster  ministered.  It 
was  this  enmity  to  idolatry,  thus  derived  through 
Zoroaster  from  Moses,  which  was  the  only  redeeming 
principle  that  the  Persian  mouarchs  showed  in  all 
their  extensive  conquests.  Cambyses,  the  son  of 
Cyrus,  madman  and  tyrant  as  he  was,  derives  a  sort 
of  dignity  from  his  zeal  against  idolatry.  His  indig- 
nation at  seeing  the  Egyptians  worship  a  living  brute 
does  honor  at  least  to  his  Persian  education,  though 
in  other  respects  he  was  a  cruel  and  detestable  tyrant. 
When  Darius  and  Xerxes  marched  their  mighty 
armies  into  Europe,  the  only  idea  which  these  vast 
expeditions  were  intended  to  carry  out,  that  can  ex- 
cite the  least  sympathy  in  the  mind  of  a  Jew,  was 
the  destruction  of  idolatry,  which  they  everywhere 
threatened  aud  attempted  to  realize.  Thus  it  is  that 
the  mind  governs  at  last.  The  Persian  kings,  with 
their  vast  armies,  bearing  war  and  subjugation  to 
remotest  lands,  were  only  realizing  ideas  which  had 
been  matured  by  Zoroaster  in  his  cave,  and  which  he 
in  turn  had  derived  from  Moses.  "  Thus  through 


18(5  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

our  exiled  fathers  the  hand  became  the  executive  of 
the  brain  to  establish  the  worship  of  the  true  God, 
and  in  the  revolution  of  the  wheels  of  nature,  as  seen 
by  Ezekiel,  the  soldier  is  the  machine  of  the  thinker, 
and  armies  are  assembled  and  battles  fought  to  carry 
out  a  few  ideas  with  Avhich  men  of  letters  have  filled 
the  mind  of  a  nation,  and  scholars  and  sages,  proph- 
ets and  impostors,  good  men  and  bad  men,  kings  and 
generals,  armies  and  revolutions,  are  all  equally  used 
to  accomplish  the  purposes  of  that  eternal  Mind,  \\ho 
sitteth  supreme  over  all,  which  we  as  the  only  nation 
known  on  earth  recognize  as  Divine  Providence. 

"  The  ambition  of  Cyrus  and  his  successorSj  though 
in  a  manner  which  they  di  d  not  anticipate,  was  the 
means  made  use  of  by  our  Father  of  introducing 
among  the  enslaved  and  ignorant  multitude  of  the 
East  the  civilization,  the  arts,  and  the  learning  which 
Greece,  with  her  wonderful  genius,  had  matured. 
Cyrus,  whose  sudden  irruption  into  Babylon  termi- 
nated Belshazzar's  feast  and  fulfilled  so  terribly  the 
writing  on  the  wall,  had  already  extended  the  Per- 
sian Empire  over  the  greater  part  of  Asia  Minor. 
Belshazzar,  the  last  king  over  Babylon,  attempted 
to  strengthen  himself  against  the  growing  power  of 
the  Persians,  by  forming  an  alliance  with  Croesus, 
King  of  Lydia,  so  famous  for  his  riches.  This  mon- 
arch, made  arrogant  by  his  great  wealth  and  the 
command  of  an  army  of  nearly  half  a  million,  resolved 
to  encounter  the  Persian  power,  but  lately  become 
formidable.  To  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  he  sent 
to  inquire  of  the  Oracle  at  Delphi  in  Greece,  and 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  lg? 

received  for  answer :  '  If  Croesus  pass  the  Holys,' 
the  boundary  between  Lydia  and  Persia,  '  he  shall 
destroy  a  great  empire.'  He  went,  and  found  that 
empire  was  his  own.  He  was  defeated  by  Cyrus,  and 
his  whole  kingdom  came  into  the  hands  of  the  con- 
queror five  hundred  and  forty  years  ago.,  This  con- 
quest brought  the  Persians  in  collision  with  the 
Greeks,  and  was  the  cause  of  those  wars  which  were 
waged  with  such  bitterness  for  generations  between 
the  two  nations,  and  finally  resulted  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Persian  monarchy.  The  Greeks,  though 
natives  of  Europe,  had  planted  many  colonies  on  the 
Asiatic  coast.  These  colonies,  though  infinitely  su- 
perior to  the  effeminate  and  luxurious  Asiatics  in 
every  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  attribute,  were 
altogether  unable  to  resist  the  overwhelming  weight 
of  an  empire  which  reached  from  Ethiopia  to  the 
Caspian  Sea,  and  from  the  Indus  to  the  Bosphorus. 
They  were  obliged  to  submit,  like  the  rest,  and  pay 
an  annual  tribute  to  their  conquerors,  no  less  to  the 
humiliation  and  annoyance  of  the  mother-country 
than  themselves.  The  yoke  at  length  became  so 
oppressive  that  they  resolved  to  throw  it  off.  To 
effect  this  they  applied  to  Athens  and  Sparta  for  aid. 
Receiving  assistance  from  these  most  considerable 
states  of  Greece,  they  rebelled,  marched  to  Sardis, 
took  it,  and  accidentally  set  the  city  on  fire,  by  which 
it  was  totally  consumed.  The  loss  of  this  city,  the 
richest  in  Asia  Minor,  exasperated  Darius,  King  of 
Persia,  to  the  highest  degree,  and  kindled  in  his 
breast  such  a  flame  of  resentment  that  he  resolved 


188  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

upon  revenge.  Lest  in  his  multifarious  affairs  he 
should  forget  the  offenders,  he  appointed  officers 
whose  duty  it  was  each  day  to  repeat  to  him  as  he 
dined,  '  Sir,  remember  the  Athenians.'  Resolved  to 
punish  these  presumptuous  republics  which  had  dared 
to  brave  the  whole  power  of  the  Persian  Empire,  he 
collected  a  fleet  and  army  sufficient,  as  he  supposed, 
to  crush  so  small  a  country  at  one  blow.  After  an 
ineffectual  attempt  to  reach  Greece  by  the  circuitous 
route  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia,  a  second  armament 
was  fitted  out,  of  the  flower  of  that  army  which  had 
borne  conquest  on  their  banners  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Nile,  and  transported  by  sea  directly  toward 
the  little  republic  of  Athens,  able  then  to  send  into  the 
field  but  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  men.  The  Athe- 
nians met  and  vanquished  them  on  the  plain  of  Mar- 
athon, leaving  six  thousand  dead  on  the  field.  Thus 
ended  the  first  attempt  of  Persian  despotism  upon 
the  liberties  of  Greece.  This  may  be  said  to  be  the 
first  demonstration  that  was  ever  given  to  the  world 
of  the  benefits  of  free  government.  A  few  ages  of 
absolute  political  liberty  had  trained  up  a  race  of 
men  such  as  had  never  been  seen  before.  Intelli- 
gence combined  with  physical  force,  thorough  disci- 
pline, and  an  enthusiastic  love  of  country,  for  the 
first  time  were  brought  to  contend  hand  to  hand  with 
the  pampered  sons  of  Eastern  luxury  and  the  spirit- 
less automata  of  a  despotic  government.  The  result 
was  what  it  will  ever  be.  The  Orientals  fell  like 
grass  before  the  swords  of  the  free.  But  this  defeat, 
so  far  from  discouraging  the  conqueror  of  the  Indies, 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  189 

only  roused  him  to  mightier  efforts.  He  immediately 
resolved  on  invading  Greece  with  a  larger  army  than 
before  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  his  preparations  he  fell 
before  a  mightier  conqueror,  and  left  the  inheritance 
of  his  kingdom  and  his  revenge  to  his  son,  Xerxes, 
who  was  destined  still  further  to  add  to  the  glory  of 
Greece,  though  it  would  seem  that  this  son  could 
have  seen,  in  the  providence  of  God,  that  man  with 
men  combined  could  not  contend  with  the  Almighty. 
But  this  youth,  succeeding  to  the  mightiest  monarchy 
which  the  world  had  ever  known,  was  resolved  to 
signalize  his  reign  by  extending  still  further  the 
boundaries  of  his  hereditary  dominions.  Asia  was 
not  enough  to  satisfy  his  boundless  ambition.  Europe 
must  likewise  be  subjected  to  his  power.  His  father's 
quarrel  with  the  Greeks  furnished  him  with  a  con- 
venient apology  for  such  enormous  injustice.  He 
spent  four  years  in  preparation  for  this  great  event, 
and  Xerxes  then  ruled  over  the  most  fruitful  portion 
of  the  globe,  and  the  simple  habits  of  life  which 
then  prevailed  enabled  the  earth  to  sustain  some 
three  or  four  times  the  number  that  can  be  supported 
in  the  more  costly  and  luxurious  mode  which  has 
since  been  adopted  by  all  civilized  nations.  He 
called  upon  every  nation  to  furnish  its  quota  of  troops 
or  ships  or  provisions,  from  Ethiopia  to  the  Caspian, 
from  the  JEgean  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  Four  full 
years  were  consumed  in  making  preparation,  and 
all  for  what  ?  To  crush  a  small  nation. 

"  We  naturally  turn  our  eyes  to  Greece,  the  de- 
voted object  of  all  this  expense.    There  she  lies,  with 


190  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

her  beautiful  islands  laved  by  the  crystal  waters  of 
the  >ZEgean  Sea.  There  is  Athens,  with  her  exquisite 
arts,  her  literature,  and  her  science,  with  her  constel- 
lations of  genius  just  ready  to  burst  upon  the  world. 
There  was  Sparta,  less  cultivated,  but  the  bulwark 
of  Grecian  independence.  There  was  Leonidas,  with 
his  three  hundred.  There,  in  a  little  peninsula,  lay 
the  intellectual  hope  of  the  world,  the  sole  germ  of 
free  government  forever  and  ever.  Is  this  brave 
and  gallant  people  to  be  crushed  at  a  blow  ?  finall 
the  Persian  banners  float  on  the  hills  of  subjugated 
Greece  ?  Is  it  to  be  announced  at  Susa  that  order 
reigns  in  Attica  ?  Is  Asiatic  despotism  to  overwhelm, 
in  one  long  night  of  oppression,  the  very  dawn  of 
human  greatness  ?  In  that  contest  literature  had 
her  stake.  The  very  existence  of  those  men  de- 
pended on  the  issue  of  this  vast  enterprise,  whose 
works  have  been  the  study  and  delight  of  all  suc- 
ceeding time — that  whole  galaxy  of  genius,  whose 
clustering  radiance  has  since  encircled  the  earth. 
The  religion  of  our  fathers  had  much  at  stake. 
Standing  now  and  gazing  back  upon  this  epoch  of 
history  we  are  made  to  tremble,  for  all  these  were 
nations  given  to  idolatry.  Everywhere  are  cere- 
monies, temples,  priests  ;  but  both  priest  and  people, 
the  noble  and  the  base,  the  learned  and  the  simple, 
all  alike  grope  in  Cimmerian  darkness  as  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God.  There  is  but  one  excep- 
tion to  this  in  all  the  earth — the  temple  at  Jerusalem. 
We  turn  our  eyes  eastward  to  Palestine,  and  there 
we  see  the  temple  of  the  true  God  just  rising  from 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  191 

the  ruin  of  seventy  years'  desolation.  Its  builders, 
a  feeble  company,  have  just  returned  from  a  long 
captivity.  The  very  language  in  which  their  holy 
oracles  were  written  has  become  obsolete.  Their 
speech  is  Chaldean,  and  their  religious  teachers  are 
obliged  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  to  interpret  from 
a  dead  language  the  records  of  their  faith.  This 
may  answer  for  a  small  territory,  and  for  a  feeble 
few,  as  at  that  time,  but  the  world  needs  light ; 
and  how  shall  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  man  unite  and  carry  God's  wisdom  round  the 
world  so  that  all  may  know  the  living  and  true  God  ? 
If  Xerxes  prevail,  this  can  never  be.  Forbid  it,, 
then,  freedom  !  Forbid  it,  then,  religion  !  Forbid 
it,  intellect !  Arise,  O  God,  and  let  thine  enemies  be 
scattered,  and  those  that  rise  up  against  the  liberties 
of  Thy  people  be  driven  away  like  the  chaff  which 
the  wind  driveth  away.  So  Xerxes  did  not  prevail ; 
the  soil  of  Palestine  would  not  bear  the  tread  of  a  foe 
to  the  religion  of  the  true  God.  The  Jewish  nature, 
breathing  the  invigorated  air  of  freedom,  disciplined 
by  science,  and  animated  and  enlightened  patriotism,, 
grows  up  to  a  strength,  a  firmness  and  courage  which 
hosts  of  slaves  can  never  subdue,  and  by  which  the 
tenfold  cord  of  oppression  is  rent  asunder  like  the 
bands  that  bound  the  limbs  of  Samson.  This  army, 
though  it  was  raised  by  Xerxes,  is  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  God  of  heaven.  It  cannot,  it  must  not, 
it  shall  not  conquer.  It  is  to  teach  the  Greeks  that 
they  are  masters  of  the  world.  It  invites  them  to 
roll  back  the  tide  of  conquest  on  Asia,  and  carry 


192  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Grecian  manners,  arts,  science,  and  language  into 
the  East.  They  shall  penetrate  to  our  holy  laud ; 
into  their  language  our  holy  oracles  shall  be  trans- 
lated ;  in  their  language  shall  be  recorded  the 
words  of  eternal  life,  and  laden  with  the  priceless 
treasure  that  language  shall  come  back  to  Pales- 
tine, bearing  light  and  truth  and  salvation  to  the 
nations  and  generations  yet  unborn.  This  diffu- 
sion of  the  Greek  language  took  place  by  means 
of  conquest.  Although  the  action  was  man's, 
the  ruling  was  God's ;  and  that  it  entered  into 
the  divine  plan  of  Providence  we  may  know  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  a  subject  of  prophecy.  In  a 
vision  of  Daniel,  in  Section  7,  in  the  first  year  of 
Darius  Hystaspes,  it  is  written  :  '  Behold,  there  shall 
stand  up  three  kings  in  Persia,  and  the  fourth  shall 
be  far  richer  than  them  all ;  and  by  his  strength  and 
through  his  riches  he  shall  stir  up  all  against  the 
realm  of  Grecia.' 

' '  Of  this  great  attempt  of  Xerxes  against  Greece 
I  have  given  account  in  my  last  letter.  After  the 
retreat  of  Xerxes  into  Asia,  there  was  no  attempt 
of  the  Greeks  to  make  reprisals  for  many  years. 
Unfortunately  they  were  divided  among  themselves, 
and  exhausted  their  energies  in  mutual  quarrels. 
But  the  ages  immediately  succeeding  the  Persian 
invasion  were  the  most  wonderful  in  intellectual  de- 
velopment that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  More  great 
minds  were  produced  within  that  century  than  in 
any  other  within  the  recorded  history  of  our  race. 
Providence  seems  to  have  kept  back  that  wonderful 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  193 

nation  until  her  intellectual  treasure-house  was  full, 
and  then  to  have  sent  her  forth  conquering  and  to 
conquer — not  to  destroy,  but  to  fertilize  the  lands 
she  overflowed  ;  not  to  extinguish  civilization  by 
barbarism,  but  to  carry  intellectual  light  to  those 
who  were  sitting  in  the  regions  of  ignorance  and 
darkness.  Nothing  occurred  of  great  interest  be- 
tween the  Persians  and  the  Greeks  for  nearly  eighty 
years.  The  Greeks  went  on  to  create  the  most  beau- 
tiful literature  and  the  profoundest  philosophy  that 
human  genius  has  ever  produced,  and  their  mutual 
contentions  perfected  them  in  the  science  and  prac- 
tice of  war.  At  that  time  a  circumstance  took  place 
which  gave  them  a  stronger  proof  of  their  great 
superiority  over  the  Persians  than  even  their  victo- 
ries over  Xerxes.  Cyrus  the  Younger  was  sent  by 
his  brother  Artaxerxes  to  Asia  Minor  as  the  gover- 
nor of  the  western  provinces.  Here  he  became  ac- 
quainted vith  the  martial  valor  of  the  Greeks,  and 
thought  by  their  aid  to  march  to  Susa  and  dethrone 
his  brother.  For  this  purpose  he  collected  an  army 
of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand,  thirteen  thou- 
sand of  whom  were  Greeks,  and  advanced  into  the 
plains  of  the  East.  He  was  there  met  by  his  brother 
with  an  army  of  nine  hundred  thousand,  defeated, 
and  left  dead  on  the  field.  The  thirteen  thousand- 
Greeks,  now  reduced  to  ten  thousand,  found  them- 
selves two  thousand  miles  from  the  nearest  Grecian 
city  where  they  would  be  safe,  without  one  day's  pro- 
visions, in  the  midst  of  an  enemy's  country.  Undis- 
mayed by  this  most  appalling  condition,  they  com- 
13 


194  1HE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

menced  their  retreat,  cut  their  way  through  enemies 
in  front,  and  guarded  themselves  from  foes  in  the 
rear.  They  went  over  mountains  covered  with 
snow,  through  trackless  forests,  and  over  rivers 
rapid  and  deep,  and  reached  their  homes  in  safety. 
This  exploit  filled  the  world  with  their  fame,  and 
perhaps  more  than  anything  else  convinced  the 
Greeks  that,  few  as  they  were,  they  held  the  desti- 
nies of  Asia  at  their  disposal.  But  confederated 
republics,  however  efficient  for  defence,  are  generally 
ill-calculated  for  conquest.  It  was  not  till  more  than 
forty  years  after  this,  when  all  Greece  had  been  sub- 
jected to  Philip,  King  of  Macedonia,  that  the  nation 
turned  its  eyes  to  the  conquest  of  the  East.  Philip 
had  himself  elected  general-in-chief  of  all  the  Greeks 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with  their  ancient 
enemies,  the  Persians.  Just  at  the  moment  when 
the  conqueror  of  Greece  was  meditating  a  descent 
upon  the  Persian  Empire,  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  an 
assassin,  leaving  his  kingdom  to  his  son  Alexander, 
a  youth  of  twenty.  This  happened  three  hundred 
and  eighty  years  ago,  and  may  be  considered  as  one 
of  the  great  epochs  of  the  world." 

Fourth  Letter. 

"Alexander,  by  his  personal  endowments  as  con- 
queror and  statesman,  did  more  in  twelve  years  to 
affect  the  future  condition  of  the  world  than  any- 
uninspired  man  that  has  ever  lived.  He  was  in  no 
respect  better  than  his  modern  rivals,  and  was  ani- 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  195 

mated  by  no  better  motive  than  personal  ambition. 
In  the  hands  of  God  he  was  used  as  an  instrument 
of  lasting  good  to  mankind.  Endowed  with  an  intel- 
lect of  unusual  power  and  comprehension,  he  re- 
ceived a  thorough  education  from  one  of  the  greatest 
philosopher's  that  ever  lived.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  began  to  mingle  affairs  of  state  with  study,  and 
became  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  scholar.  At  the  age  of 
twenty,  when  summoned  to  assume  the  reins  of 
empire — the  sovereign,  in  fact,  of  the  Greeks — he 
stood  before  the  world  a  perfect  representative  of  his 
nation.  He  combined  their  genius  and  learning 
with  their  valor  and  conduct ;  and  entering  Asia 
with  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  the  poems  of  Homer 
in  the  other,  he  became  the  armed  leader  of  Grecian 
learning,  art,  and  civilization.  Wherever  he  went 
Greece  went  with  him.  His  conquests  were  not  so 
much  those  of  Macedonian  arms  as  of  Grecian  let- 
ters. Wherever  he  went,  he  took  with  him  the  genius 
of  Homer,  the  sublime  soul  of  Plato,  and  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  of  Socrates  ;  and  not  only  monarchies 
sprung  up  in  his  wake,  but  schools  of  philosophy  and 
academies  of  learning. 

Entering  Asia  with  an  army  of  thirty-five  thousand 
men,  in  the  space  of  twelve  years  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  whole  Persian  Empire,  and  of  many  na- 
tions which  had  never  been  subjected  to  the  Persian 
yoke.  He  carried  the  Grecian  language  and  man- 
ners to  the  Indus,  and  subjected  to  his  power  nearly 
as  large  a  portion  of  the  human  race  as  there  was  in 
existence.  His  first  battle  gave  him  Asia  Minor. 


196  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

The  second  all  of  Syria  to  the  Euphrates  ;  Egypt, 
the  whole  valley  of  the  Nile,  surrendered  without 
striking  a  blow.  The  third  great  battle,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,  opened  to  him  the  Avhole  of  the 
Asiatic  plains  to  the  mountains  which  bounded  the 
habitations  of  the  Scythian  tribes.  Wherever  he 
went  the  Greek  language  and  literature  took  up  their 
abode,  and  every  city  on  this  side  the  Euphrates  in 
a  few  ages  became  the  residence  of  Greek  philoso- 
phers, poets,  rhetoricians,  grammarians,  historians, 
till  the  whole  circuitous  shore  of  the  Mediterranean 
became  almost  as  Grecian  as  Greece  herself.  Our  be- 
loved Palestine,  of  course,  came  under  his  sway,  and 
the  influence  of  his  career  on  the  fortunes  of  us 
Jews  was  more  decisive,  perhaps,  than  upon  any 
other  nation,  for  it  was  his  conquest  alone  which  in- 
troduced the  Greek  language  into  our  holy  land. 
And  so  much  do  the  most  important  events  turn  on 
the  slightest  causes,  that  on  the  chances  of  one  life, 
almost  daily  exposed  to  destruction  by  the  dangers 
of  war,  depended  the  issue  whether  the  records  of 
the  holy  oracles  should  ever  be  sent  to  the  perishing 
world  through  this  beautiful  language.  It  has  been 
declared  that  when  the  mighty  warrior  and  states- 
man was  approaching  Jerusalem,  Judua,  who  was 
our  high  priest  at  that  time,  came  out  to  meet  him 
in  solemn  procession,  and  that  Alexander  was  so 
struck  by  his  appearance,  that  he  not  only  spared 
the  city,  but  granted  to  us  Jews  many  favors  that 
he  did  not  show  to  others,  giving  as  a  reason  therefor 
that  he  had  seen  the  same  person  in  a  dream  before 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  197 

he  left  Macedonia,  who  had  assured  him  of  the  con- 
quest of  the  Persian  empire. 

' '  From  .Syria  he  passed  on  to  Egypt,  and  his  con- 
quest of  that  country  had  a  greater  influence  upon 
the  future  condition  of  our  nation  than  the  conquest 
of  Judea  itself :  for  on  his  return  from  Ethiopia  he 
sailed  down  the  western  branch  of  the  Xile,  and, 
with  the  instinct  of  genius,  fixed  upon  the  site  of  a 
city  between  the  lake  Mareotis  and  the  sea,  which 
he  called  after  his  own  name.  It  sprung  up  imme- 
diately to  be  one  of  the  most  magnificent  cities  of  the 
world,  reigning  as  a  sort  of  queen  of  the  East,  as  the 
mart  of  commerce  and  the  seat  of  wealth.  To  people 
this  city  we  Jews  were  invited  by  the  most  liberal 
offers.  A  large  colony  was  formed,  where  only  the 
Greek  language  was  used.  Hence,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  have  our  Scriptures  translated  into  Greek,  or 
we  would  have  lost  our  knowledge  of  them  altogether. 
It  is  said  on  good  authority  that  the  occasion  of 
translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  Greek  language 
was  the  desire  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  to  have 
a  copy  to  go  into  the  Alexandrian  library,  which 
was  begun  not  long  after  his  death.  However  that 
might  be,  such  a  version  we  know  was  made,  which 
is  now  the  standard  of  the  world.  It  was  made 
about  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  by  this  transla- 
tion our  theology  has  gone  to  the  whole  world.  Thus 
we  see  that  Divine  Providence  works  the  nations  of 
the  earth  like  a  machine. 

"  Another  important  factor  in  God's  providence 
is  the  rising  of  the  Roman  Empire.  While  all  these 


1 98  TH:E  A RCHKO  VOL  UME. 

things  were  transpiring  in  the  East,  a  nation  was 
rising  into  notice  in  the  south  of  Italy  destined  to 
exert  a  more  extensive  influence  upon  the  world  by 
her  arms  than  Greece  did  by  her  learning.  About 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  a  small  band  of 
refugees  from  the  ruins  of  Troy  joined  other  adven- 
turers, and  established  themselves  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber.  Their  government  at  first  was  monarch- 
ical. They  were  poor  in  resources,  temperate  and 
frugal  in  their  habits,  but,  either  from  choice  or 
necessity,  warlike  from  the  first.  Italy  was  not  then 
a  new  nor  an  uncultivated  country.  It  must  have 
contained  states  and  cities  of  great  wealth,  for  there 
have  been  discovered  vast  receptacles  for  the  dead 
dating  back  much  earlier  than  the  time  of  Romulus. 
These  were  a  nation  of  soldiers  and  statesmen,  trained 
from  their  earliest  years  to  politics  and  war.  Their 
monarchy  lasted  about  two  hundred  years.  White 
that  lasted  there  was  little  indication  that  these 
Romans  were  to  become  the  masters  of  the  world. 
The  establishment  of  a  popular  government,  how- 
ever, rapidly  developed  their  national  characteristics 
— a  love  of  conquest  and  military  glory.  This  char- 
acter once  formed,  and  all  honor  and  promotion 
coming  from  the  people,  none  could  hope  to  succeed 
without  bending  the  whole  force  of  his  talents  to 
that  object  which  every  citizen  had  most  at  heart — 
the  honor  of  the  Roman  name,  and  the  extension  of 
their  dominions  over  foreign  nations.  The  Senate, 
composed  either  of  the  most  distinguished  and  influ- 
ential of  the  citizens,  or  of  those  who  had  made  their 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  199 

way  through  the  regular  grades  of  the  magistracy  to 
the  highest  which  was  known  in  the  State,  constituted 
a  body,  which,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  for 
talent,  for  weight,  for  wisdom  and  experience,  was 
unrivalled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  Roman 
from  youth  to  age  lived  in  the  eye  of  his  country. 
To  gain  the  favor  of  the  arbiters  of  his  destiny 
was  his  perpetual  study  and  his  constant  endeavor. 
Thus  from  the  first,  every  faculty  was  put  upon  the 
utmost  stretch,  and  nothing  was  omitted  through 
the  whole  course  of  his  education  which  could 
give  him  eloquence  before  the  people,  valor  and 
conduct  in  the  field,  and  'wisdom  in  the  Senate. 
The  whole  nation  was  a  sort  of  military  school. 
IV  o  man  could  be  a  candidate  for  office  until  he  had 
served  his  country  ten  years  as  a  soldier  in  the  camp. 
The  result  was  that,  by  thus  bending  all  the  powers  of 
human  nature  in  one  direction,  they  excelled  all  man- 
kind in  that  art  to  which  they  were  exclusively  de- 
voted. They  became  a  nation  of  soldiers,  and,  pursu- 
ing with  steady  aim  and  untiring  perseverance  one 
exclusive  object  for  eight  centuries,  they  naturally  be- 
came the  conquerors  of  the  world.  A  Roman  army 
was  the  most  terrible  object  that  ever  trod  the  earth, 
it  was  a  vast  human  machine  contrived  for  the 
subjugation  of  the  world,  instinct  with  intelligence, 
shielded  from  assault  by  an  almost  impenetrable 
armor,  and  animated  with  a  courage  which  was  best 
displayed  in  the  shock  of  battle.  When  we  hear  of  a 
Roman  camp,  we  cease  to  wonder  how  that  nation 
carried  conquest  from  the  sands  of  Africa  to  the  bor- 


200  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

ders  of  the  world,  to  the  skirts  of  the  Arabian  desert. 
After  the  age  of  seventeen,  every  Roman  was  liable 
to  be  enrolled  and  sent  to  the  war  at  any  time.  When 
he  arrived  at  the  camp  he  entered  on  a  course  of 
life  in  which  ease  and  luxury  were  altogether  un- 
known. He  commenced  a  discipline  of  hardships 
that  is  almost  incredible,  and  of  which  there  was  no 
end  ;  and  with  all  this  training  it  took  the  Romans 
five  hundred  years  to  conquer  Italy;  it  took  two 
hundred  more  and  they  were  masters  of  the  known 
world. 

"  About  one  hundred  years  ago  the  Roman  con- 
quest reached  our  holy  land.  Pompey  the  Great 
polluted  with  impious  tread  the  holy  of  holies,  and 
the  Roman  legions  planted  their  standard  upon  the 
rampart  of  the  temple.  About  seventy  years  ago 
Caesar  subjected  the  liberties  of  his  country,  putting 
an  end  to  the  republic  which  had  existed  four  hun- 
dred years ;  and  fifty  years  ago  all  the  world  was 
given  peace.  Thus  it  is  that  the  Grecian  letters  and 
Roman  arms  were  founded  on  the  mission  of  Moses ; 
also  the  Roman  statesman  was  made  quite  as  subser- 
vient to  the  great  plan  of  Providence  as  the  valor  of 
the  Roman  commanders ;  for  they  alone  of  all  na- 
tions that  ever  existed  were  able  to  retain  and  con- 
solidate their  conquests.  Their  polity,  perfected  by 
the  experience  of  ages,  greatly  alleviated  the  burden 
of  their  yoke,  and  it  is  often  said  that  after  conquer- 
ing like  savages  they  ruled  like  sages ;  and  if  it  is 
objected  :  how  can  God's  providence  permit  so  many 
minds  to  come  under  a  rule  so  hostile  to  liberty  and 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  201 

freedom  ?  To  this  I  reply  :  the  governments  destroyed 
are  always  worse  than  the  ones  set  up  in  their  place, 
though  it  may  not  always  be  seen  by  man." 

Fifth  Letter. 

' '  Man  is  essentially  a  human  being.  He  is  made 
so  by  the  faculties  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  the  emo- 
tions of  his  heart.  He  is  so  both  by  the  intellectual 
and  moral  nature.  One  of  the  first  and  most  spon- 
taneous exercises  of  the  reason  of  man  is  the  investi- 
gation of  cause  and  effect,  and  one  of  the  first  con- 
victions which  are  developed  in  the  mind  is  that 
there  cannot  be  an  effect  without  a  cause.  The  next 
is,  that  the  nature  of  a  cause  must  correspond  with 
the  nature  of  the  effect,  and  can  certainly  be  known 
by  it.  It  is  so  in  the  works  of  man.  When  we  see 
an  exquisite  painting  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  doubt 
its  having  been  the  creation  of  intelligence.  When 
Aristippus  was  cast  on  a  shore  where  there  appeared 
to  be  no  inhabitants,  he  wandered  about  until  he 
found  some  mathematical  diagrams  traced  in  the 
sand.  '  Courage,"  said  he.  '  my  friend  ;  I  find  the 
traces  of  men.'  And  so  I  say  to  the  wandering  and 
forsaken  Jews  of  God  :  Courage ;  I  see  the  finger  of 
God  pointing.  Men  see  in  everything  the  traces  of 
power  and  wisdom.  Nay,  we  know  that  we  are  the 
effects  of  superior  power  and  wisdom.  Unbelief  has 
not  prevailed  much  in  the  world,  and  it  has  been 
quite  as  rare  among  the  heathen  as  among  those  who 
have  had  a  revelation.  So  much  for  abstract  relig- 
ious convictions. 


202  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  Men  are  led  to  God  by  their  understanding  and 
by  their  moral  nature.  On  the  first  dawn  of  his 
faculties  man  experiences  within  him  certain  moral 
perceptions.  This  is  right,  meritorious,  honorable  ; 
that  is  wrong,  base,  despicable,  worthy  of  punish- 
ment. This  moral  nature  he  finds  exists  not  only  in 
himself,  but  in  others.  It  is  a  universal  attribute  of 
man.  It  is  not  a  fortuitous  endowment.  It  is  given 
to  man  by  his  Creator  as  the  law  of  his  action.  I 
can  come  from  no  other  source.  But  the  moral 
power  in  man  is  only  the  faculty  to  see  them  because 
they  exist.  Then  God  sees  them  and  they  are  real- 
ities, and  He  created  both  them  and  us.  Our  con- 
sciousness of  the  power  to  choose  between  the  good 
and  the  bad  creates  within  us  a  sense  of  responsibility 
to  the  being  that  made  us. 

"  Connected  with  this  idea  of  God,  which  seems 
to  be  necessary  and  universal,  is  that  of  a  providence, 
an  intelligence  which  not  only  made  the  world  but 
governs  it ;  which,  therefore,  knows  the  past,  the 
present,  and  the  future,  and  which,  of  course,  observes 
not  only  all  that  is  seen  by  mortal  eyes,  but  likewise 
all  that  passes  in  the  human  mind.  Men  have  seen 
that  the  general  course  of  events  is,  that  vice  should 
be  punished  and  virtue  rewarded ;  vice,  therefore, 
is  regarded  by  God  with  displeasure  ;  and  as  He  now 
punishes  it,  so  He  will  continue  to  do.  As  a  good 
man  now  and  ever  must  be  the  object  of  His  appro- 
bation, and  as  God  is  infinite  in  power,  the  good  man 
will  be  forever  rewarded.  Such  are  the  natural  con- 
victions of  mankind,  which  result  from  the  opera- 


THE  HfLLEL  LETTERS.  203 

tions  of  his  own  mind.  Such  are  the  convictions  of 
the  heathen  world.  The  great  men  of  the  old  world, 
poets  and  philosophers,  have  entertained  such  opin- 
ions in  all  time.  They  all  take  for  granted  one 
superior  being  and  all  others  inferior  beings  that  are 
responsible  to  Him.  This  is  not  only  the  last  and 
highest  conclusion  of  human  intellect,  but  likewise 
the  consenting  voice  of  the  most  ancient  tradition. 

"  But  then,  even  in  the  best  minds  the  subject 
was  surrounded  with  great  doubt  and  difficulties. 
God  Himself  is  an  object  of  none  of  the  senses.  It 
is  in  vain,  therefore,  for  the  human  mind  to  form 
an  idea  of  the  mode  of  His  existence.  Not  being, 
then,  a  matter  of  sense  or  of  demonstration,  the 
wisest  of  men,  though  he  might  arrive  at  the 
truth,  could  not  feel  sure  that  it  was  truth.  Want- 
ing certainty  himself,  he  could  not  impart  certainty 
to  others.  He  could  not  propagate  his  doctrine 
with  confidence.  The  wisest  of  men,  therefore, 
wanted  that  authority  which  was  requisite  even  for 
the  propagation  of  the  truth.  They  wanted  cer- 
tainty for  themselves  and  authority  for  others.  Now, 
certainty  and  authority  are  the  very  things  which 
are  necessary  to  make  a  religion  powerful  in  the 
world.  While  religion,  therefore,  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  philosophers  (that  is,  the  thinkers),  it  effected 
next  to  nothing  in  guiding  and  restraining  mankind, 
it  being  merely  a  matter  of  opinion — that  is,  of  dim 
probability.  One  man  felt  that  he  had  just  as  good 
a  right  to  his  opinion  as  another.  One  philosopher 
differed  from  another,  and  thus  weakened  the  author- 


204  THE  ARCHKO   VOL  UME. 

ity  of  the  opinions  of  both.  A  religion,  therefore, 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word — that  is,  one  that  shall 
take  hold  of  the  faith  and  control  the  conduct  of 
mankind  —  must  have  certainty  and  authority. 
Neither  of  these  can  be  obtained  without  revelation, 
inspiration,  and  miracles. 

"  Had  Moses  himself  received  no  divine  aid,  either 
from  inspiration  or  miracles,  even  if  he  had  uttered 
the  same  truths  and  laid  down  the  same  precepts,  he 
would  have  accomplished  nothing  in  the  world.  His 
doctrines  would  have  rested  for  evidence  on  his  own 
reason,  and  his  precepts  upon  his  own  personal  char- 
acter and  influence.  Another  man  of  equal  wisdom 
and  the  same  weight  of  character  might  have  over- 
thrown what  he  had  built  up.  Besides,  his  manner 
would  have  been  entirely  different.  No  man  can  in- 
spire confidence  in  others  who  has  not  confidence  in 
himself.  No  man  in  high  religious  matters  can  have 
full  confidence  in  himself  without  conscious  divine 
inspiration.  It  was  reasonable,  therefore,  in  him, 
when  sent  by  God  into  Egypt  to  bring  out  his  en- 
slaved brethren,  to  demand  miraculous  credentials  ; 
and  without  them  he  could  neither  have  brought 
them  out  nor  established  among  them  the  religion 
he  was  commissioned  to  teach.  This  distinction  was 
perceived  by  the  people,  though  the  reason  upon 
which  it  was  founded  was  beyond  their  comprehen- 
sion. The  difference  arose  from  the  difference  be- 
tween knowledge  and  opinion.  One  is  necessarily 
proposed  with  diffidence  ;  the  other  with  confidence, 
which  no  one  uninspired  can  counterfeit.  Those 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  205 

who  knew  best  about  these  things  among  the  heathen 
had  no  means  of  guiding  the  multitude.  But  then 
mankind  must  have  a  religion.  The  understanding 
demands  it,  and  the  heart  craves  it.  It  is  not  with 
the  multitude  as  with  the  philosophers,  a  matter  of 
quiet  contemplation.  They  must  act  as  well  as  think 
and  feel.  The  sentiments  of  the  heart  demand  ex- 
pression, and  expression  they  will  have,  through  the 
actions  of  the  hands,  and  through  the  words  of  the 
mouth.  Occasions  were  continually  occurring  de- 
manding immediate  action.  Some  public  calamity 
bowed  down  the  hearts  of  thousands,  and  seemed  to 
indicate  the  wrath  of  superior  powers.  Those  powers 
must  be  supplicated  and  appeased.  Who  shall  con- 
trive the  rite  ?  Not  the  wisest,  but  the  man  of  the 
greatest  boldness  and  readiness  of  invention.  Once 
established,  proscription  took  the  place  of  reason,  and 
habit  consecrated  that  which  was  at  first  wanting  in 
propriety. 

' '  Then,  again,  religion  has  much  to  do  with  imag- 
ination. Everything  relating  to  God  is  invisible. 
There  is  nothing  positively  to  determine  and  fix  our 
ideas  ;  but  in  pure  spirituality  our  imagination  finds 
no  play,  nothing  to  lay  hold  of.  Still  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  keep  them  quiet,  even  in  our  most  solemn  de- 
votions, and  perhaps  it  has  been  found  absolutely 
impossible  for  the  most  spiritual  man  altogether  to 
separate  the  idea  of  corporiety  from  God. 

"  How  much  more  impossible,  then,  must  it  have 
been  for  the  uninstructed  heathen,  with  the  best  in- 
tentions ?  Therefore,  there  must  have  been  diversi- 


206  THE  ARCHKO  VOL  UME. 

ties  and  great  imperfection  in  heathen  opinions  and 
heathen  worship.  Such  we  find  to  have  been  the 
fact.  Certain  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  yet  uncer- 
tain of  the  mode  of  His  existence,  it  was  natural 
that  the  human  mind  should  run  into  a  thousand 
vagaries  and  a  thousand  errors.  It  was  natural  that 
mankind  should  fancy  that  they  had  found  God  in 
those  parts  of  the  material  universe  where  His  attri- 
butes are  most  displayed.  Hence,  the  most  ancient 
species  of  idolatry  is  said  to  have  been  that  which 
deified  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  sun  and  moon  and 
the  hosts  of  heaven.  The  sun  is  perhaps  the  brightest 
emblem  of  God,  except  the  human  soul.  To  us  he 
is,  in  fact,  the  mightiest  instrument,  as  it  were,  the 
right  hand  of  the  benignity  of  the  Most  High.  He 
riseth,  and  the  shadows  of  night  flee  away.  Joy  and 
beauty  go  forth  to  meet  him  in  the  morning.  At 
his  call  universal  life  riseth,  as  it  were,  from  a  uni- 
versal death.  He  draweth  aside  the  curtains  of  dark- 
ness and  sayeth  unto  man,  Come  forth  !  He  shineth, 
and  the  face  of  nature  is  glad.  He  hideth  his  face, 
and  all  things  mourn.  He  withdraweth  from  the 
western  sky,  and  darkness  resumes  her  ancient  do- 
minion, and  all  things  seem  to  wait  his  return.  The 
soul  itself,  as  it  were,  deprived  of  its  support,  gradu- 
ally loses  its  energies,  and  sinks  into  a  profound  re- 
pose. What  wonder,  then,  that  in  the  native  ignor- 
ance of  mankind  of  the  true  nature  of  God,  the  wise 
should  have  worshipped  the  sun  as  the  fittest  em- 
blem of  God,  and  the  ignorant  as  God  Himself. 
Such  was  probably  the  idolatry  of  the  nations  from 


THE  H1LLEL  LETTERS.  207 

among  whom  Abraham  was  called  to  the  worship  of 
the  true  God.  Such  was  the  worship  of  the  Chal- 
deans and  Egyptians.  It  is  a  record  of  the  Talmud 
that  Abraham,  when  returning  from  the  grotto 
where  he  was  born  to  the  city  of  Babylon,  gazed  on 
a  certain  star,  '  Behold,'  said  he, '  the  God,  the  Lord 
of  the  universe.'  But  as  he  gazed  the  star  sank 
away  and  was  gone,  and  Abraham  felt  that  the  Lord 
was  unchangeable,  and  he  was  deceived.  Again, 
the  full  moon  appeared,  and  he  said,  '  This  is  our 
God  ;'  but  the  moon  withdrew  and  he  was  deceived. 
All  the  rest  of  the  night  he  spent  in  profound  medi- 
tation. At  sunrise  he  stood  before  the  gates  of  Baby- 
lon, and  saw  all  the  people  prostrate  before  the  rising 
sun.  '  Wondrous  orb,'  he  exclaimed,  '  thou  surely 
art  the  creator  and  ruler  of  nations,  but  thou,  like 
the  rest,  hasteneth  away,  so  the  Creator  is  somewhere 
else.'  How  much  more  sublime,  as  well  as  rational, 
the  doctrine  which  he  orginated,  and  the  sentiments 
which  were  afterward  expressed  by  one  of  his  follow- 
ers, which  make  these  glorious  orbs  only  the  mani- 
festations of  something  far  more  glorious  than  they  ! 
"  One  great  source  of  corruption  was  the  priest- 
hood. It  seems  natural  that  men  should  be  chosen 
to  conduct  religious  service.  They  became  better 
acquainted  with  these  rites  than  others,  and  are  more 
sacred  by  the  power  of  association  which  renders 
their  ministration  more  satisfactory,  and,  of  course, 
more  profitable  to  those  in  whose  behalf  they  perform 
sacred  offices.  A  priesthood  seemed  to  be  so  neces- 
sary, but  there  is  nothing  more  dangerous  to  a  nation 


208  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

than  to  have  a  priesthood  that  is  governed  by  the 
political  parties  of  the  nation,  as  was  done  by  all 
nations  except  our  own.  Here  the  priest  was  gov- 
erned by  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  it  was  impossible 
for  the  priest  or  anybody  else  to  change  them.  It 
is  to  be  attributed  to  these  heathen  priests  that  idol- 
atry is  so  common.  Go  down  into  Egypt,  and  you 
find  men  worshipping  an  ox.  Cats  and  crocodiles 
occupy  the  places  of  the  inferior  gods,  and  are  wor- 
shipped by  the  poor.  Thus  in  all  nations,  except 
our  own,  this  dreadful  state  of  idolatry  prevails. 
The  idolatry  of  Greece  is  no  better.  Athens  con- 
tains many  statues  erected  to  imaginary  gods.  Her 
superstition  is  not  only  bigoted  but  bloody.  It  was 
there  that  Socrates  suffered  death  merely  on  suspicion 
of  maintaining  opinions  subversive  of  the  popular 
faith." 

Sixth  Letter. 

"  The  end  of  all  religion  as  a  positive  institution 
is  to  enlighten  the  understanding  and  cultivate  the 
devotions.  The  mind  must  think  and  the  heart  must 
worship.  So  it  must  be  through  life.  The  cares  of 
the  world  are  continually  effacing  religious  impres- 
sions, and  truths  once  clearly  seen  and  vividly  felt 
by  lapse  of  time  wax  dim  and  lose  the  influence  of 
present  realities.  The  soul,  moreover,  feels  the  want 
of  support  and  guidance  of  religion  at  all  times. 
Every  day  the  soul  experiences  the  need  of  commu- 
nion with  God.  It  is  as  necessary  as  our  daily  food. 
Therefore,  all  religion  has  its  sacred  rites,  by  which 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  209 

the  heart  speaks  to  God  and  God  communicates 
to  the  heart.  So  all  religions  have  some  mode  of 
training  the  mind  and  moving  the  affections,  of 
taking  hold  of  the  memory  and  perpetuating  them- 
selves. This  is  derived  from  an  innate  consciousness. 
If  God  should  extinguish  all  the  lights  of  the  world 
and  blind  every  human  eye,  religion  would  be  just 
the  same. 

"  But  these  outward  institutions  must  all  be 
adapted  to  the  present  condition  of  man.  Religion 
can  only  use  those  instruments  which  are  furnished 
to  hand.  In  the  absence  of  writing  it  must  use  cere- 
monies and  forms,  which  have  a  conventional  mean- 
ing, and  thus  come  to  be  symbolic  of  certain  truths. 
Thus,  our  patriarchal  religion  consisted  almost  en- 
tirely of  prayer  and  sacrifice.  The  Mosaic  religion, 
which  came  after  the  invention  of  letters,  added  to 
prayer  and  sacrifice  a  written  code  of  duty,  a  formal 
declaration  of  truths  and  principles,  which  lay  at  the 
foundation  of  the  whole  institution. 

"  The  patriarchal  element  was  still  strong  and 
predominant  in  all  our  Church,  yet  there  was  no 
express  mode  of  religious  instruction.  This  was  en- 
joined on  the  heads  of  families  :  '  And  these  words 
which  I  command  thee  this  day,  thou  shalt  teach  them 
to  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sit- 
test  in  thy  house.'  And  as  the  written  laws  were 
scarce  and  hard  to  get,  it  was  said  :  'And  thou  shalt 
bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand  and  as  front- 
lets between  thine  eyes,  and  thou  shalt  write  them 
upon  the  posts  of  thine  house  and  upon  thy  gates.' 
14 


210  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Then  the  Levites  were  to  stand  and  say  with  a  loud 
voice  :  '  Cursed  be  the  man  that  maketh  any  graven 
image  ;'  and  all  the  people  shall  hold  up  their  hands 
and  say,  amen ;  and  thus  he  went  through  the  whole 
law.  Then  at  the  annual  meeting  upon  the  moun- 
tains at  new  moon  all  the  people  met  and  held  up 
their  hands  and  cried,  amen.  Thus  it  is  evident  that 
devotion  predominated  over  instruction  ;  the  culti- 
vation of  the  heart  was  made  more  prominent  than 
that  o$  the  understanding. 

"  But  in  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  Church  and 
State  were  closely  amalgamated.  The  code  of  Moses 
prescribed  a  like  religious  and  civil  duty.  The 
Levites,  of  course,  were  the  judges  and  magistrates, 
as  well  as  the  religious  teachers  of  the  people.  But 
as  books  were  scarce,  we  find  in  the  third  year  of 
the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat  that  he  sent  princes  and 
Levites  to  teach  the  people,  and  they  took  the  book 
of  the  law  and  went  through  all  the  cities  of  Judea 
and  taught  the  people  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

"  This  same  thing  was  carried  out  in  all  the  Jew- 
ish life.  Our  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  and  after- 
ward in  the  holy  land,  was  intended  as  a  perpetual 
memorial  of  God,  and  a  symbol  of  His  presence.  It 
called  the  people  off  from  idolatry,  and  reminded 
them  that  their  worship  was  to  be  directed  to  Jeho- 
vah alone.  Its  services,  and  those  afterward  of  the 
temple,  were  perpetually  renewed  every  morning  and 
every  evening,  that  no  pious  Israelite  should  ever 
feel  that  the  duties  of  adoration  and  gratitude  could 
be  omitted  for  a  single  day.  The  morning  and  even- 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  211 

ing  sacrifice,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  was 
to  the  religiously  disposed  an  essential  aid  to  devo- 
tion through  the  many  centuries  of  the  continuance 
of  that  imposing  rite. 

"  Then  if  we  transfer  these  imposing  ceremonies 
to  the  temple,  this  godly  house  was  the  rallying 
point  of  our  political  power,  the  consecrated  seat  of 
our  religion,  and  the  heart  of  our  national  affections. 
It  was  built  by  Solomon  more  than  a  thousand  years 
ago.  It  was  built  on  Mount  Moriah,  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Jerusalem.  It  was  built  for  worship 
alone.  It  was  intended  as  a  place  for  national  wor- 
ship. It  consisted  of  four  enclosures,  one  within 
another  on  three  sides,  but  having  a  common  wall 
011  the  fourth,  Only  one  of  these  was  covered  with  a 
roof,  in  our  meaning  of  the  term,  and  that  was  the 
last  or  innermost  enclosure — the  holy  of  holies,  con- 
taining the  ark,  the  cherubim,  and  the  mercy  seat. 
The  outer  enclosure,  into  which  all  nations  were  per- 
mitted to  enter,  was  very  large.  The  second  was 
the  court  of  women — so-called,  not  because  none  but 
women  were  permitted  to  enter  there,  but  because 
they  were  permitted  to  go  no  further.  Within  this 
was  the  court  of  Israel,  which  again  surrounded  on 
three  sides  that  of  the  priests,  where  was  the  great 
altar,  upon  which  the  daily  sacrifice  was  offered 
morning  and  evening. 

"  Oh,  these  sacred  ordinances  !  How  can  the  world 
do  without  them  ?  It  seems  that  the  world  could  do 
as  well  without  the  light  of  the  sun,  as  well  without 
food  to  eat  or  water  to  drink,  as  to  do  without  these 


212  THE  A  RCHK  0  VOL  UME. 

doctrines  and  teachings  of  the  Jews.  But  they  are 
all  gone.  The  city,  the  temple,  the  doctrine,  the 
priest,  the  law,  and  the  nation  are  all  gone.  Is  it 
so  that  God  has  become  tired  of  His  own  appoint- 
ments ?  or  does  He  see  a  defect  in  His  own  ways, 
or  has  He  become  dissatisfied  with  His  own  cove- 
nant made  to  our  fathers  and  to  their  children  ? 

"  I  write  you  these  letters,  my  beloved  country- 
men, asking  you  to  look  at  these  things,  and  find  out 
the  cause  of  our  abandonment.  Is  it  the  cause  that 
sent  our  fathers  into  Egypt  ?  or  is  it  caused  by  the 
same  thing  that  sent  them  into  Babylon  ?  Let  us 
look  and  find  out  the  cause,  so  that  we  may  seek  a 
remedy.  And  let  us  not  forget  the  morning  and 
evening  sacrifice.  Let  us  turn  our  faces  toward  that 
holy  temple  and  pray.  Although  it  is  not  in  exist- 
ence in  fact,  yet  it  lives  in  each  of  our  hearts,  and 
shall  ever  live.  Though  we  may  be  thousands  of 
miles  away,  and  be  sold  into  bondage,  and  bound  in 
chains,  yet  we  will  not,  we  cannot,  forget  our  land, 
our  religion,  and  our  God.  He  is  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  still  is  merciful,  and  will  remember  His 
promises  and  keep  His  covenant  made  with  our 
fathers.  And  so  shall  I  abide." 

Seventh  Letter. 

THE    EXPECTATION .  OF   THE   JEWS. 

"  Not  only  was  the  expectation  of  a  remarkable 
personage  universally  prevalent  among  the  Jews  at 
the  time  of  the  appearance  of  Christ,  but  the  phra- 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  213 

seology  was  already  in  use  which  designated  what  he 
was  to  be  and  accomplish.  There  was  at  the  time  of 
Christ  a  Messianic  phraseology  derived  from  different 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  embodied  and  ex- 
pressed all  their  anticipations.  Whatever  inspiration 
accompanied  the  first  composition  of  the  prophecies, 
there  was  evidently  none  in  their  interpretation.  This 
much  was  certain,  that  there  was  to  be  a  Messiah, 
there  was  to  be  a  new  dispensation.  No  one  knew 
precisely  what  he  was  to  be.  Imagination,  of  course, 
was  set  to  work,  and  each  one  for  himself  formed  his 
own,  and  made  whatever  passage  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment he  choose  to  be  descriptive  of  his  person  and 
office.  Not  only  the  imagination,  but  the  passions 
were  concerned  in  the  formation  of  their  expecta- 
tions. The  pious  thought  of  him  as  a  religious  re- 
former, and  the  new  state  of  things  to  be  a  condition 
of  higher  religious  perfection.  The  rabbis  interpreted 
concerning  the  days  of  the  Messiah  such  passages  as 
this  from  the  31st  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  '  Behold, 
the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a 
new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  and  with  the 
house  of  Judah.  Not  according  to  the  covenant  that 
I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the  day  that  I  took 
them  by  the  hand  to  bring  them  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt.  But  this  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will 
make  with  the  house  of  Israel.  After  those  days, 
saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward 
parts,  and  write  it  on  their  hearts,  and  will  be  their 
God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.  And  they  shall 
teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and  every 


214  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord,  for  they  all 
shall  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  even  unto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for  I  will  forgive 
their  iniquity  and  remember  their  sin  no  more.' 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  expectation  entertained 
by  the  Samaritans,  if  the  woman  with  whom  Christ 
talked  at  the  well  of  Jacob  is  to  be  considered  as 
speaking  the  sentiments  of  the  nation. 

"  The  universal  expectation  seems  to  have  been 
that  he  was  to  be  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses,  but 
greater.  In  accordance  with  this  sentiment  Peter, 
in  one  of  his  first  discourses  after  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  cites  the  promise  of  Moses  to  the  Israelites 
just  before  his  death,  as  applicable  to  Christ.  '  A 
prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you 
of  your  brethren  like  unto  me,  him  shall  ye  hear  in 
all  things  whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto  you.  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  that  every  soul  which  shall  not 
hear  the  prophet  shall  be  destroyed  from  among  the 
people.'  These  were  the  sentiments  of  those  who  had 
reen  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  five  thousand  with  a 
few  loaves  and  fishes,  bearing  so  strong  a  resemblance 
to  the  feeding  of  the  Israelites  in  the  desert.  Then 
those  men  when  they  had  seen  the  miracle  which 
Jesus  did,  said  :  '  This  is  of  a  truth  that  prophet 
that  should  come  into  the  world.' 

"  Another  and  much  larger  class  gave  the  Messi- 
anic prophecies  a  more  worldly  meaning.  The  great 
personage  whose  coming  they  shortly  expected  was 
to  be  a  king,  but  greater  than  any  who  had  sat  upon 
the  Jewish  throne.  It  was  with  this  expectation 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  215- 

evidently  that  his  disciples  followed  him  through  his 
whole  ministry.  And  even  after  his  resurrection 
they  seem  for  awhile  to  have  entertained  the  same 
hopes.  One  of  the  first  questions  which  they  asked 
him  after  he  rose  was  :  '  Wilt  thou  at  this  time  re- 
store the  kingdom  to  Israel  ?'  And  at  the  last  sup- 
per they  disputed  '  which  of  them  should  be  the 
greatest,'  that  is,  who  should  be  highest  in  office  in 
the  new  kingdom  that  he  was  about  to  set  up.  It 
was  with  this  idea  that  he  was  hailed  by  the  multi- 
tude into  Jerusalem  with  the  shout,  '  Hosanna  to 
the  son  of  David.'  This  was  the  idea  which  Nathan- 
iel meant  to  express  when  he  said,  on  receiving  the 
evidence  that  he  was  a  prophet :  '  Rabbi,  thou  art  the 
Son  of  God,  thou  art  the  king  of  Israel.'  That  it 
was  his  temporal  character  to  which  Nathaniel  here 
referred  we  have  sufficient  evidence  in  the  informa- 
tion which  first  directed  his  attention  to  Jesus.  '  We 
have  found  him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets  did  write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of 
Joseph.'  The  part  of  the  Old  Testament  from  which 
this  title  and  expectation  were  taken  was  principally 
the  second  Psalm.  The  person  described  in  this 
poem  is  represented  as  exalted  by  God  to  be  a  king 
on  Mount  Zion  in  Judea.  The  surrounding  heathen 
are  represented  as  being  enraged.  But  God  has 
nevertheless  determined  that  he  shall  reign  ;  and  as 
a  king  sets  his  son  upon  his  throne  while  he  yet  lives, 
so  has  God,  as  Supreme  King  of  Israel,  exalted  this 
person  to  share  His  authority,  and  pledges  His  own 
power  to  support  his  throne. 


-21(5  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

"  One  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  de- 
rived from  this  Psalm,  was  that  he  was  not  only 
to  reign  over  the  Jews,  but  destroy  all  other  nations. 
'  Why  do  the  heathen  rage  and  the  people  im- 
agine a  vain  thing.  The  kings  of  the  earth  set  them- 
selves, and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together  against 
the  Lord,  and  against  his  Anointed,  saying,  Let  us 
break  their  bands  asunder,  and  cast  away  their  cords 
from  us.  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh. 
The  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision.  Then  shall 
He  speak  to  them  in  his  wrath,  and  vex  them  in 
his  sore  displeasure.  Yet  I  have  set  my  king  upon 
my  holy  hill  of  Zion.  I  will  declare  the  decree,  the 
Lord  hath  said  unto  me.  Thou  art  my  son,  this 
•day  have  I  begotten  thee.  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will 
give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  a  possession. 
Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  thou 
shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel.' 
This  Psalm  was  interpreted  by  the  Jews  almost 
universally  of  the  Messiah,  and  the  more  readily  as 
the  title  Anointed  is  translated  in  the  Septuagint 
•Christos  so  that  it  there  reads,  'Against  the  Lord 
and  against  His  Christ.'  The  Messiah,  therefore,  was 
to  reign  on  Mount  Zion,  one  of  the  mountains  on 
which  Jerusalem  was  built,  and  reign  over  the  Jews 
and  by  God's  assistance  subdue  the  heathen  by  war 
and  conquest,  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and 
dash  them  in  pieces  as  a  potter's  vessel.  Such  was  the 
kingdom  which  the  great  majority  of  the  Jews 
•expected  their  Messiah  to  set  up. 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  217 

"  The  phrase,  '  kingdom  of  heaven,'  is  taken  from 
the  second  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Daniel.  After 
foretelling  that  there  should  arise  four  great  mon- 
archies, the  Babylonian,  the  Persian,  the  Grecian, 
and  the  Roman,  the  last  of  which  should  be  a  king- 
dom of  iron,  he  goes  on  to  say,  'And  in  the  days  of 
these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  king- 
dom which  shall  never  be  destroyed,  and  the  king- 
dom shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall 
break  in  pieces,  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,, 
and  it  shall  stand  forever.'  In  another  passage  :  '  I 
saw  in  the  night  a  vision,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son 
of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came 
to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought  him  near 
before  him.  And  there  was  given  unto  him  domin- 
ion, and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  na- 
tions, and  languages  should  serve  him.  His  do- 
minion is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his  kingdom 
that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed.' 

"  From  this  last  passage  was  probably  derived 
the  opinion  once  held,  that  the  Messiah  should 
never  die.  Jesus  said  on  a  certain  occasion  :  '  And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me.'  The  people  answered  him,  '  We  have 
heard  out  of  the  law  that  Christ  abideth  forever ; 
and  how  sayest  thou  the  Son  of  Man  must  be  lifted 
up  ?  Who  is  this  Son  of  Man  ?'  The  new  dispensa- 
tion under  the  figure  of  a  kigdom  was  the  subject  of 
the  commencing  petition  of  one  of  the  chief  prayers 
recited  in  their  synagogues,  from  Sabbath  to  Sab- 
bath, and  has  been  so  for  ages.  There  was  a  time 


218  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

specified  in  the  Book  of  Daniel  of  seventy  weeks, 
which  was  to  intervene  between  the  building  of  the 
second  temple  and  the  times  of  the  Messiah,  which, 
interpreting  according  to  the  prophetic  style,  a  day 
for  a  year,  would  bring  the  period  of  his  appearance 
somewhere  near  the  time  when  John  the  Baptist 
began  to  preach. 

"  So  prevalent  had  this  expectation  become  that 
it  had  spread  beyond  the  holy  land.  Tacitus,  a  his- 
torian who  wrote  in  Italy,  records  the  fact  that  among 
many  '  there  was  a  persuasion  that  in  the  ancient 
books  of  the  priesthood  it  was  written  that  at  this 
precise  time  the  East  should  become  mighty,  and  that 
those  issuing  from  Judea  should  rule  the  world.' 
Suetonius,  another  Latin  historian,  writes  '  that  in 
the  East  an  ancient  and  constant  opinion  prevailed 
that  it  was  fated  there  should  issue  at  this  time  from 
Judea  those  who  should  obtain  universal  dominion.' 

"  This  confident  expectation  of  the  Jews  had 
already  caused  no  little  political  disturbance.  It 
was  this  proud  anticipation  of  universal  conquest 
which  made  them  so  restive  under  the  government 
of  the  Romans.  That  they  who  were  destined  to 
reign  over  the  world — and  whose  King  Messiah  was 
to  have  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance,  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession,  who  was  to 
break  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  dash  them  in  pieces 
like  a  potter's  vessel — should  be  in  vassalage  to  a  for- 
eign power,  was  more  than  they  could  bear.  Jose- 
phus  relates  that  about  the  time  of  the  birth  of 
Christ,  when  Cyrenius  was  sent  to  take  a  census  of 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  219 

Judea,  Judas,  a  native  of  Gamala  in  Galilee,  rose 
up  and  resisted  the  Roman  commissioner,  and  raised 
a  great  rebellion.  He  is  mentioned  likewise  by 
Gamaliel  in  his  speech  before  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim, 
when  the  apostles  were  brought  before  them  for 
preaching  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  immediately  after 
his  ascension.  '  After  this  man,  rose  up  Judas  of 
Galilee,  in  the  days  of  taxing,  and  drew  away  much 
people  after  him  ;  he  also  perished,  and  all,  as  many 
as  obeyed  him,  were  dispersed.'  Josephus  speaks 
generally  of  the  troubles  of  those  times,  without 
specifying  their  causes.  And  now  Judea  was  full 
of  robberies,  and  as  the  several  companies  of  the 
seditious  would  light  upon  anyone  to  head  them  he 
was  created  a  king  immediately,  in  order  to  do  mis- 
chief to  the  public. 

' '  This  was  exactly  the  state  of  the  country  during 
the  ministry  of  Jesus,  and  it  explains  his  caution  in 
proclaiming  himself  the  Messiah,  and  his  withdrawal 
as  soon  as  a  multitude  collected  about  him  and  man- 
ifested any  tendency  to  sedition  or  disturbance.  It 
is  recorded  of  him,  that,  after  the  miracle  of  feeding 
the  five  thousand,  and  the  declaration  made  concern- 
ing him, '  This  of  a  truth  is  that  prophet  which  should 
come  into  the  world,'  When  Jesus  therefore  per- 
ceived that  they  would  come  and  take  him  by  force, 
and  make  him  a  king,  he  departed  again  into  a  moun- 
tain himself  alone.'  In  another  instance,  likewise, 
when  he  had  healed  the  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda, 
'And  he  that  was  healed  wist  not  who  it  was  ;  for 


220  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

Jesus  had  conveyed  himself  away,  a  multitude  being 
in  that  place.' 

"  Such  being  the  expectation  of  the  Jews,  as  we 
learn  from  profane  history,  a  man  of  singular  habits 
and  appearance  began  to  preach  in  a  retired  part  of 
Judea,  where  there  were  but  few  large  towns  :  '  Re- 
pent, for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'  This 
man  was  of  the  sacerdotal  tribe,  and  had  been  con- 
secrated to  God  from  his  infancy  by  the  vow  of  the 
Nazarite.  His  habits  and  dress  were  those  of  a  her- 
mit, his  food  such  as  he  could  pick  up  in  the  fields 
and  woods.  He  was  literally  the  voice  of  one  cry- 
ing in  the  wilderness,  '  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord.  Make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway  for 
our  God.'  He  professed  to  have  been  moved  by 
divine  impulse  to  proclaim  the  immediate  approach 
of  the  Messiah.  A  man  of  such  singular  appear- 
ance, bearing  such  an  important  message,  produced 
a  great  sensation,  and  excited  the  strongest  curiosity. 
Crowds  from  all  parts  of  Judea  flocked  together  to 
see  and  hear  him.  Some  thought  that  he  was  the 
Messiah.  His  fame  soon  reached  Jerusalem,  and 
the  Jewish  authorities  sent  a  deputation  of  priests 
and  Levites  to  inquire  who  he  was.  He  told  them 
that  he  was  not  the  Messiah,  but  was  sent  to  intro- 
duce him.  '  I  came  to  point  him  out  to  Israel.' 
Here  was  undoubtedly  stated  the  true  reason  why  he 
was  raised  up  by  Divine  Providence  to  prepare  the 
Jewish  mind  for  the  great  message  from  God  which 
they  were  about  to  receive,  to  shape  their  ideas  from 
the  crude  mass  of  traditions  which  had  existed  among 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  22 1 

them  into  some  resemblance  to  the  dispensation  that 
the  Messiah  was  about  to  establish.  '  There  was  a 
man  sent  from  God  whose  name  was  John.  The 
same  came  for  a  witness,  that  all  men  through  him 
might  believe.  He  was  not  the  Light,  but  was  sent 
to  bear  witness  of  the  Light.' 

"  The  effect  of  his  preaching  was  precisely  what 
was  intended.  He  produced  a  strong  impression 
upon  the  public  mind,  and,  though  he  wrought  no 
miracle,  all  men  held  him  to  be  a  prophet.  He  pre- 
sented a  strong  contrast,  and  probably  by  design,  to 
the  pretenders  to  divine  mission  who  appeared  about 
that  time.  It  was  on  this  account  that  the  multi- 
tudes which  gathered  about  him  created  no  uneasi- 
ness in  the  public  authorities.  A  man,  like  John, 
who  clothed  himself  in  the  coarsest  attire,  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  higher  classes  were  studious  of  orna- 
ment, and  all  who  had  any  pretensions  to  official 
dignity  were  distinguished  by  gorgeous  apparel, 
would  naturally  escape  all  suspicion  of  political 
ambition.  A  religious  teacher  evidently  sincere  and 
pious,  and  withal  free  from  fanaticism  and  enthusi- 
asm, after  the  cessation  of  prophecy  for  four  hundred 
years,  must  have  produced  a  great  impression.  He 
must  have  recalled  to  the  minds  of  his  countrymen 
the  days  when  Elijah  in  a  like  simplicity  and  grave 
austerity  stood  up  as  a  prophet  of  God,  and  the 
champion  of  religion.  Some,  indeed,  mistook  him 
for  Elijah  risen  from  the  dead,  who,  their  traditions 
affirmed,  was  to  come  to  anoint  and  inaugurate  the 
Messiah.  The  almost  simultaneous  appearance  of 


222  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME 

the  Light,  and  the  witness  to  the  Light,  without  any 
concert  or  collusion,  was  a  strong  testimony  to  the 
divine  mission  of  both.  With  this  argument  alone 
Jesus  on  one  occasion  silenced  those  who  questioned 
his  claim  to  be  the  Messiah.  '  The  baptism  of  John, 
whence  was  it  ?  From  heaven  or  of  men  ?'  They 
reasoned  among  themselves,  saying  :  '  If  we  say  of 
heaven,  then  he  will  say,  Why  then  did  ye  not  be- 
lieve on  him  ?'  and,  of  course,  believe  on  him  to  whom 
he  bore  witness.  '  But  if  we  say  of  men,  the  peo- 
ple will  stone  us,  for  all  counted  John  as  a  prophet.' 
It  does  not  appear  that  John  had  any  particular  per- 
son in  his  mind  when  he  commenced  his  mission,  but 
was  merely  informed  by  God,  who  sent  him  to  preach, 
that  the  Messiah  should  be  pointed  out  to  him  by 
some  miraculous  appearance.  He  had  known  him 
before  as  a  person  of  great  piety  and  excellence,  for 
when  Jesus  came  to  him  to  be  baptized,  John  said  to 
him,  '  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  and  comest 
thou  to  me  ?'  But  as  the  Messiah  he  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  him,  for  he  testifies,  "  I  knew  him  not,'  that 
is,  as  the  Messiah,  '  but  He  that  sent  me  to  baptize 
with  water,  the  same  said  unto  me :  Upon  whom 
thou  shalt  see  the  Spirit  descending  and  remaining 
on  him,  the  same  is  he  that  shall  baptize  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.'  .  John  collected  around  him  a  com- 
pany of  disciples  whom  he  instructed  in  the  mys- 
teries of  religion,  and  many  of  them  seem  to  have 
remained  with  him  after  he  was  cast  into  prison, 
till  he  was  beheaded  by  Herod. 

"  We  have  reason  to  conclude,  I  think,  that  his 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  223 

teaching  shadowed  forth,  though  imperfectly,  the 
general  system  of  Christianity.  Jesus  says  of  him, 
'  That  among  them  that  are  born  of  women,  there 
hath  not  arisen  a  greater  prophet  than  John  the 
Baptist,'  and  they  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
opening  discourses  of  Christ.  '  And  the  people  said 
unto  him,  What  shall  we  do  then  ?  He  answered 
and  said  unto  them,  He  that  hath  two  coats,  let  him 
impart  unto  him  that  hath  none,  and  he  that  hath 
meat,  let  him  do  likewise.'  '  Then  came  the  tax- 
gatherers  to  be  baptized,  and  said  unto  him,  Master, 
what  shall  we  do  ?  And  he  said  unto  them,  Exact 
no  more  than  is  appointed  you.  And  the  soldiers 
likewise  demanded  of  him,  saying,  And  what  shall 
we  do  ?  And  he  said  unto  them,  Do  violence  to  no 
man,  neither  accuse  any  falsely,  and  be  content  with 
your  wages.' 

"  That  John  preached  the  essential  doctrines  of 
Christianity  would  appear  from  what  we  read,  'And 
a  certain  Jew,  named  Apollos,  born  in  Alexandria, 
an  eloquent  man  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  came 
to  Ephesus.  This  man  was  instructed  in  the  way  of 
the  Lord,  and,  being  fervent  in  spirit,  he  spake  and 
taught  diligently  the  things  of  the  Lord,  knowing 
only  the  baptism  of  John.  And  he  began  to  speak 
boldly  in  the  synagogue,  whom  when  Aquilla  and 
Priscilla  had  heard  they  took  him  unto  them,  and 
expounded  to  him  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  per- 
fectly.' In  the  nineteenth  chapter :  'And  it  came 
to  pass  that  Avhile  Apollos  was  at  Corinth,  Paul,  hav- 
ing passed  through  the  upper  coasts,  came  to  Ephe- 


224  THE  ARGHKO   VOLUME. 

sus,  and  finding  certain  disciples,  he  said  unto  them, 
Have  ye  received  the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  believed  ? 
And  they  said  unto  him,  We  have  not  so  much  as 
heard  whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost.  And  he 
said  unto  them,  Unto  what  then  were  ye  baptized  ? 
And  they  said,  Unto  John's  baptism.'  Now,  here 
are  two  cases  in  which  those  who  had  heard  nothing 
but  the  doctrines  of  John  are  said  to  have  been  Chris- 
tians, to  have  been  taught  the  things  of  the  Lord, 
and  to  have  been  disciples. 

"  It  follows  then,  of  course,  that  John  the  Baptist 
taught  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity.  The  object 
of  the  gospels  being  to  record  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
that  of  John  is  passed  over  in  a  very  cursory  man- 
ner. But  that  he  taught  often  and  much,  as  well 
as  prophesied  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe.  His  disciples,  however, 
mingled  some  of  the  old  forms  with  their  new  doc- 
trines, for  they  fasted  often,  an  observance  which 
Jesus  declared  agreed  no  better  with  the  new  religion 
than  a  piece  of  new  cloth  with  an  old  garment,  or 
new  wine  with  old  bottles. 

"  The  mind  of  John  the  Baptist  furnishes  a  re- 
markable example,  which  we  often  meet  with,  of  par- 
tial divine  illumination,  the  clearest  knowledge  on 
some  points,  and  absolute  ignorance  on  others.  By 
the  light  of  inspiration  he  shadowed  forth  in  a  few 
words  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  whose 
approach  he  foretold,  and  showed  it  to  be  something 
entirely  different  from  the  expectation  of  the  Jews, 
handed  down  from  remote  ages;  yet  of  its  details 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  225 

his  ideas  seem  to  have  been  vague,  and  he  appears 
to  have  had  no  certain  knowledge  that  Jesus  was  the 
Messiah,  though  he  had  baptized  him  and  received 
the  heavenly  sign  of  which  they  had  been  fore- 
warned. 

"  One  truth  which  he  announced  bears  evident 
marks  of  supernatural  origin — since  it  contradicted 
the  conceptions  and  prejudices  of  the  age — that  the 
Messiah  and  his  kingdom  were  not  to  be  national, 
not  belonging  of  right  and  exclusion  to  the  posterity 
of  Abraham  alone.  There  is  a  maxim,  as  common 
as  the  very  letters  of  the  alphabet,  in  the  writings  of 
the  rabbis,  that  '  There  is  a  part  for  all  Israel  in  the 
world  to  come.'  that  is,  in  the  kingdom  of  Messi.ah, 
merely  by  virtue  of  their  descent  from  Abraham. 
That  it  was  to  be  a  kingdom  selected  from  Israel  and 
other  nations,  a  new  community  by  no  means  coex- 
tensive with  the  seed  of  Abraham,  they  had  not  the 
slightest  idea.  That  it  was  to  be  a  moral  and  a  spir- 
itual kingdom  was  as  far  from  their  conceptions. 
'  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand.  Bring 
forth,  therefore,  fruits  worthy  of  repentance.  And 
say  not,  we  have  Abraham  for  our  father,  for  God  is 
able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children  to  Abraham.' 
Think  not  that  you  are  to  belong  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  merely  because  you  are  descended  from  Abra- 
ham God  is  able  to  raise  up  children  to  Abraham 
from  a  source  now  as  improbable  to  you  as  the  stones 
beneath  your  feet,  from  among  the  Gentiles  even, 
whom  you  are  accustomed  to  call  dogs,  and  count  as 
the  oSscouring  of  the  earth.  A  discrimination  is 
15 


226  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

about  to  take  place,  not  between  the  children  of 
Abraham  and  other  nations,  but  between  the  good 
and  the  bad  even  among  the  Jews  themselves.  '  The* 
axe  lieth  at  the  root  of  all  the  trees.  Every  tree 
therefore,  which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn 
down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  I  indeed  baptize  you 
with  water,  but  he  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier 
than  I,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear,  he  shall 
baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.'  He 
shall  raise  those  who  obey  him  to  a  higher  degree  of 
spiritual  knowledge,  perfection,  and  power,  and  pun- 
ish those  who  disobey  him  with  the  severest  suffer- 
ing. '  Whose  winnowing  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and 
he  will  thoroughly  purge  his  grain,  and  gather  the 
wheat  into  his  garner,  but  he  will  burn  up  the  chaff 
with  unquenchable  fire.'  This  is  the  same  idea  ex- 
pressed in  stronger  language,  the  meaning  of  which 
is  this,  The  Messiah's  kingdom  is  not,  as  you  Jews 
expect,  to  comprehend  the  good  and  the  bad  merely 
because  they  are  the  descendants  of  Abraham,  but 
is  to  embrace  the  good  only,  who  are  to  be  gathered 
into  a  separate  community,  while  the  bad  are  to  be 
abandoned  to  the  destruction  which  their  own  wicked 
courses  will  inevitably  bring  upon  them. 

"  He  not  only  preached  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a 
separate  society,  distinct  from  the  Jewish  nation,  but 
he  actually  began  to  set  it  up.  The  baptism  which 
he  instituted  was  no  idle,  unmeaning  form,  nor  did 
it  signify  simply  a  profession  of  repentance,  but  it 
began  and  founded  a  new  community.  Those  who 
received  it  professed  not  only  repentance  as  necessary 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  227 

to  prepare  them  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah, 
now  shortly  expected  to  appear,  but  a  readiness  to 
believe  in  and  obey  him  whenever  he  should  evi- 
dently make  himself  Known.  '  The  law  and  the 
prophets,'  says  Christ,  '  were  until  John.  Since  that 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  preached,  and  every  man 
presseth  into  it.'  The  baptism  of  John  and  that  of 
Jesus  were  essentially  the  same,  one  into  a  profession 
of  belief  in  the  Messiah  yet  to  come,  and  the  other  into 
a  possession  of  belief  in  the  Messiah  already  come. 

' '  Thus  John's  baptism  began  to  do  what  his  words 
began  to  predict,  to  separate  the  righteous  from  the 
wicked,  to  prepare  the  righteous  for  eternal  life,  and 
leave  the  wicked  to  the  consequences  of  their  sins ; 
began  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  God,  whose  initi- 
atory rite  was  baptism,  just  as  circumcision  was  the 
initiatory  rite  of  God's  ancient  church.  Thus  the 
kingdom  of  God  came  not  with  observation.  While 
men  were  saying,  '  Lo  here,  and  lo  there,'  the  king- 
dom of  God  was  in  the  midst  of  them. 

"  But  after  all  this  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 
the  kingdom,  or  Christianity,  which  was  possessed 
by  John  the  Baptist,  and  after  baptizing  Jesus  with 
his  own  hands,  and  receiving  the  Divine  testimony 
of  which  he  had  been  forewarned,  so  possessed  was 
he  with  the  Jewish  prejudices,  of  the  temporal  splen- 
dor and  power  of  the  Messiah,  and  so  discouraged 
by  his  long  imprisonment,  that  he  sent  two  of  his 
disciples  to  inquire  if  he  were  actually  the  Messiah. 
Jesus  sent  them  back  to  tell  all  they  saw  and  heard, 
and  to  leave  him  to  form  his  own  judgment,  adding- 


228  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

what  throws  light  on  the  reasons  of  John's  doubts, 
'  Blessed  is  he  whoever  is  not  offended  in  me  ;  who 
does  not  consider  the  lowliness  of  my  appearance 
incompatible  with  the  loftiness  of  my  pretentious.' 

"  This  good  and  holy  man,  having  lived  just  long 
enough  to  see  the  rising  twilight  of  the  new  dispen- 
sation for  which  he  was  sent  to  prepare  the  way,  fell 
a  victim  to  the  intrigues  and  revenge  of  a  wicked 
woman.  Herodias,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  sons  of 
Herod  the  Great,  accompanying  her  husband  to 
Rome,  there  became  acquainted  with  Herod  the 
tetrarch  of  Perea,  and  after  her  return  to  Judea  she 
abandoned  her  husband,  and  with  her  daughter  Sa- 
lome went  to  live  with  him,  in  open  defiance  of  the 
laws  of  God  and  man.  John,  the  intrepid  prophet 
of  righteousness,  reproved  such  flagrant  iniquity  in 
high  places,  and  said  to  the  royal  transgressor,  '  It 
is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  her.'  For  this  bold 
testimony  for  righteousness  he  was  sent  to  the  castle 
Machserus,  on  the  confines  of  Palestine  and  Arabia. 
But  the  sleepless  revenge  of  Herodias  followed  him 
even  there,  and  he  died,  as  is  well  known,  a  martyr 
to  the  truth.  Thus  perished  John  the  Baptist,  the 
morning  star  of  Christianity,  and  his  dying  eyes 
caught  scarcely  a  glimpse  of  the  glory  that  was  re- 
vealed. 

"  There  is  no  subject  which  literature  approaches 
with  such  diffidence  as  the  personal  character  and 
history  of  Christ.  There  is  no  theme  on  which  lan- 
guage is  found  so  inadequate  and  imperfect.  A  per- 
son in  human  form,  with  every  attribute  of  humanity, 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  229 

except  sin,  exhibiting  perfect  goodness  in  combina- 
tion with  infallible  wisdom,  clothed  with  extensive 
power  over  physical  nature,  and  a  knowledge  of 
futurity  at  once  extensive  and  circumstantial ;  the 
declared  end  and  object  of  a  train  of  miraculous 
interpositions  running  back  to  the  very  foundation 
of  the  world,  himself  the  beginning  and  cause  of  a 
new  order  of  things,  embracing  the  whole  world  and 
all  succeeding  times  ;  his  doctrines  destined  to  sway 
the  minds  of  the  millions  of  the  human  race,  to  form 
their  opinions,  to  mould  their  characters,  to  shape 
their  expectations,  to  reign  in  their  minds,  and  judge 
their  actions,  to  convict  and  purify  their  consciences, 
to  cleanse  them  from  sin,  and  prepare  them  for  his- 
own  society  and  the  presence  of  God  in  the  spiritual 
world — worthily  to  speak  of  such  a  being  is  a  task 
before  which  I  confess  that  my  speech  falters  and 
my  vocabulary  seems  meagre  and  inadequate. 
This  difficulty  remains  whatever  view  we  adopt  of 
his  metaphysical  rank  in  the  universe.  From  the 
fierce  controversy  as  to  the  nature  of  Christ,  so 
early  raised  and  which  more  than  any  other  cause 
has  disturbed  its  harmony,  I  am  most  happy  to  escape. 
That  belongs  to  the  history  of  opinions,  and  volumes 
on  volumes  would  not  contain  their  endless  diversity. 
What  men  have  thought  of  the  person  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  and  what  he  actually  was,  and  did,  and 
taught,  and  brought  to  pass,  are  two  things  entirely 
distinct.  The  former  is  a  matter  of  mere  speculation, 
the  latter  embraces  all  that  is  necessary. 

"  We  read  of  Jesus,  that,  immediately  after  his  bap- 


230  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

tism  and  transfiguration  by  John,  directed  by  Divine 
impulse,  he  retired  into  solitude,  where  he  passed 
forty  days  in  preparation,  doubtless,  for  the  great 
work  in  which  he  was  about  to  engage.  From  this 
solitary  sojourn  he  returned  filled  with  the  Spirit, 
with  that  measure  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  and 
power  which  was  necessary  for  his  mission  to  man- 
kind. From  that  forty  days'  retirement  he  came 
back  to  the  world  with  a  scheme  of  religion  entirely 
new.  It  differed  from  everything  that  had  gone 
before  in  being  spiritual  and  universal.  Its  plan 
was  perfect  at  first.  It  was  not  to  grow  up,  and  take 
such  a  form  as  circumstances  might  dictate ;  but 
with  a  plastic  power,  like  that  of  the  Divine  Mind 
itself,  it  was  to  transform  and  mould  all  things  accord- 
ing to  its  unalterable  purpose.  It  is  with  reference 
to  this  fulness  of  knowledge,  by  which  he  was  exalted 
not  only  above  all  the  prophets  which  went  before 
him,  but  all  those  whom  he  used  as  instruments  in 
propagating  and  establishing  his  religion,  that  it  is 
said  of  him,  that  '  God  giveth  not  the  spirit  by  meas- 
ure unto  him.'  '  The  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but 
grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.' 

"  The  divine  plan  being  thus  communicated  to  the 
mind  of  Christ,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  have 
the  power  of  carrying  it  into  effect.  Having  received 
this  divine  commission,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should 
be  authenticated.  The  plan  was  divine,  but  such  were 
the  ignorance  and  blindness  of  mankind  that  it  is 
not  at  all  probable  that  the  world  would  have  recog- 
nized and  embraced  it  as  divine,  had  it  not  been 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  231 

authenticated  by  miracles.  Mankind,  particularly 
in  rude  ages,  want  not  only  truth  but  authority — 
not  only  truth  but  the  certainty  that  it  is  truth — or, 
not  being  embraced  with  sufficient  confidence,  it  will 
do  them  no  good. 

"  Jesus  returned  from  his  forty  days'  seclusion 
possessed  of  supernatural  wisdom,  which  guarded 
him  from  all  mistake,  and  enabled  him  in  all  circum- 
stances to  say  and  to  do  the  thing  which  his  present 
condition  required  ;  he  came  with  miraculous  knowl- 
edge of  the  manner,  for  instance,  and  circumstances 
of  his  death,  the  success  of  his  religion,  and  the  spir- 
itual power  to  which  he  was  to  be  exalted.  He 
came  with  supernatural  control  over  the  order  of 
nature,  such  as  is  most  striking  to  the  unsophisti- 
cated understandings  of  mankind,  to  persuade  them 
of  the  connection  of  its  possessor  with  God.  His 
touch  healed  the  sick,  his  will  changed  the  elements, 
his  command  stilled  the  tempest,  his  voice  raised  the 
dead.  But  what  was  quite  as  striking  to  those  with 
whom  he  associated,  he  could  read  men's  most  secret 
thoughts,  and  tell  them  the  transactions  of  their  past 
lives,  and  foresee  what  they  were  hereafter  to  do. 

"  But  the  system,  though  perfect  in  itself,  existed 
nowhere  but  in  his  own  mind.  How  was  it  to  be 
introduced  ?  The  human  mind  was  not  a  blank  on 
which  might  be  written  the  institutions  and  princi- 
ples of  the  new  religion.  It  was  already  preoccupied. 
What  was  already  there  could  not  be  annihilated 
or  effaced.  How  could  the  new  be  made  to  super- 
sede the  old?  It  could  not  be  done  at  once.  It 


232  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

could  only  be  done  by  degrees,  by  engrafting  the  new 
upon  the  old  where  it  was  practicable,  and  by  infus- 
ing into  the  current  of  language  and  thought  new 
principles  which  might  insensibly  color  the  whole 
mass,  thus  superseding  rather  than  destroying  what 
was  already  in  existence. 

"  The  Jewish  religion  was  already  in  being,  as  the 
stock  upon  which  to  engraft  his  own.  He  himself 
was  expected,  but  in  another  character  from  what 
he  could  assume.  The  whole  phraseology  was  in 
use  which  designated  what  he  was  to  accomplish. 
What  would  the  highest  wisdom  have  dictated 
him  to  do  ?  What  does  the  man  do  who  has  a 
house  to  build,  but  has  an  old  one  already  on  the 
spot  ?  Does  he  begin  by  giving  it  to  the  flames,  or 
by  throwing  it  all  aside  ?  No  !  He  selects  from  it 
whatever  is  sound  and  incorporates  it  with  the  new 
building. 

"  This  was  precisely  what  Jesus  did  with  regard 
to  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  and  the  expectations  and 
phraseology  which  were  then  in  existence  as  to 
the  Messiah  and  the  new  dispensation.  To  reject 
them  would  have  made  the  task  of  introducing  the 
new  religion  much  more  difficult.  The  only  course 
which  wisdom  could  direct  was  to  adopt  the  existing 
phraseology,  and  give  it  such  a  sense  as  would  corre- 
spond with  his  real  character  and  office.  The  Jews 
were  accustomed  to  call  the  Messiah  the  '  Son  of 
Man,'  from  the  vision  of  Daniel,  in  which  he  saw  one 
like  '  the  Son  of  Man,'  invested  with  great  power 
.and  dignity.  He  was  likewise  called  the  '  Son  of 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  233 

God,'  from  the  second  Psalm.  These  appellations  he 
assumed,  and  by  assuming  them  claimed  all  that 
belonged  to  the  Messiah.  The  Messiah  was  expected 
as  a  king,  and  the  new  dispensation  as  a  kingdom. 
This  was  not  literally  a  fact,  but  was  spiritually  true 
in  a  sense  transcending  the  most  exalted  conceptions 
of  the  most  bigoted  and  ambitious  Jew.  Nor  ought 
it  to  militate  against  this  view  of  things,  that  it  may 
seem  to  be  inconsistent  with  perfect  candor  and  deal- 
ing. No  language  that  he  could  have  used  would 
have  given  them  a  clear  conception  of  Christianity, 
as  it  actually  was  to  be.  Their  own  phraseology  of 
a  kingdom  would  come  as  near  as  any  that  he  could 
adopt.  What  it  was  to  be  time  only  could  develop. 
We,  who  know  what  it  is,  acquiesce  in  the  propriety 
of  his  use  of  the  Messianic  language,  as  it  then  ex- 
isted, giving  it  at  the  same  time  such  an  interpreta- 
tion as  made  it  the  symbolic  expression  of  the  highest 
spiritual  truth. 

"  To  exemplify  the  principles  which  I  have  laid 
down,  to  show  the  wisdom,  the  miraculous  knowledge 
of  Jesus,  the  full  understanding  that  he  had  of  the 
whole  system  from  the  beginning,  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  insinuated  the  glorious  and  eternal  truths 
of  Christianity  through  the  Messianic  phraseology  of 
that  time,  I  shall  proceed  to  analyze  some  of  his  first 
discourses. 

"  The  ministry  of  Jesus  began  in  Galilee,  but  at 
what  time  of  the  year  we  are  not  informed.  Of  his 
first  tour  through  that  country,  in  which  he  attended 
the  marriage-feast  at  Cana,  we  have  only  a  general 


234  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

notice.  Of  his  discourses  nothing  now  remains  but 
their  commencing  sentence  :  '  Repent,  for  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  at  hand.'  Multitudes  soon  gathered 
around  him,  and  his  fame  spread  throughout  all 
Syria. 

"  His  first  recorded  discourse  is  that  which  he 
held  with  Xicodemus  at  Jerusalem,  at  the  first  pass- 
over  which  occurred  after  the  commencement  of  his 
ministry.  This  conversation  introduces  to  us  one 
of  the  most  interesting  scenes  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  presents  us  a  practical  proof  of  that  mirac- 
ulous wisdom  with  which  Christ  was  endowed,  which 
made  him  equally  at  home  with  the  learned,  acute, 
and  experienced  member  of  the  Jewish  Senate  at 
Jerusalem,  and  the  humble,  simple  peasants  and 
fishermen  of  Galilee.  '  And  it  came  to  pass  when 
he  was  in  Jerusalem,  at  the  Passover  on  the  feast- 
day,  many  believed  on  his  name  when  they  saw  the 
miracles  that  he  did.'  '  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
thee,  ye  must  be  born  again.  The  wind  bloweth 
whither  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof, 
but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth  ;  so  is  everyone  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.' 
Spiritual  birth,  true  religion,  is  not  confined,  as  you 
Jews  suppose,  to  one  tribe  or  family.  It  is  as  free 
as  air,  and  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  you  expect 
to  be  a  national  thing,  will  spread  over  the  earth  as 
that  does,  without  any  regard  to  the  boundaries  of 
nations  and  kindreds.  Its  empire  is  the  soul,  every- 
where free,  everyone  capable  of  receiving  it,  not  more 
in  those  whose  material  bodies  have  descended  from 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  235 

Abraham  than  those  who  have  never  heard  of  his 
name.  If  you  really  desire,  then,  to  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  to  be  my  disciple,  come  not  here 
by  night,  go  openly  and  be  baptized.  Be  a  Christian, 
not  outwardly  alone,  but  inwardly ;  hear  my  doc- 
trines, receive  my  spirit,  and  trust  no  more  to  your 
descent  from  Abraham.  In  the  course  of  the  con- 
versation, he  glances  at  two  other  facts  no  less  offen- 
sive to  the  Jewish  prejudices  of  Xicodemus,  the  cru- 
cifixion of  the  Messiah  and  the  extension  of  his 
kingdom  to  the  gentiles.  '  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
Man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  For 
God  sent  His  Son  into  the  world,  not  to  condemn  the 
world,'  not  to  destroy  the  nations  as  you  Jews  sup- 
pose, '  but  that  through  him  the  world  might  be 
saved.'  Such  was  the  transcendent  wisdom  of  the 
Saviour,  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  mis- 
sion. Before  the  wisdom  of  this  youthful  teacher, 
learning  and  age  and  experience  were  overborne  and 
subdued,  and  Nicodemus  must  have  retired  convinced 
no  less  by  his  discourses  than  his  miracles  that  he 
was  a  teacher  come  from  God. 

"  Soon  after  this  conversation  Jesus  returned  into 
Galilee,  and,  passing  through  Samaria,  held  that 
remarkable  discourse  with  the  woman  of  Samaria  at 
the  well  of  Jacob,  which  I  have  noticed  in  a  former 
letter 

"  On  his  arrival  at  Nazareth,  his  previous  resi- 
dence, he  attempted  to  preach  in  the  synagogue 


236  THE  A RC'HKO  VOLUME. 

where  he  had  been  accustomed  to  worship.  The  peo- 
ple listened  to  the  first  part  of  his  discourse  with 
pleasure  and  admiration,  though,  according  to  a 
strong  propensity  of  human  nature,  they  were  dis- 
posed to  sneer  at  him  as  the  son  of  a  carpenter.  At 
the  first  hint,  however,  of  the  doctrine  that  the  new 
dispensation  was  not  to  be  a  national  religion,  but 
to  be  extended  to  gentile  as  well  as  Jew,  they  be- 
came violently  enraged.  They  might  have  been  led 
to  suspect  that  he  was  not  altogether  sound  in  the 
national  faith  of  a  Messiah  who  was  to  destroy  the 
heathen,  from  his  manner  of  quoting  that  striking 
passage  of  Isaiah,  '  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  glad 
tidings  to  the  poor;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the 
broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives 
and  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind  ;  to  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bound,  to  preach  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord  ;' — here  he  stopped.  The  rest  of  the 
sentence  is,  '  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God/ 
Had  he  quoted  the  rest  of  the  sentence  without  ex- 
planation, as  applicable  to  himself,  they  would  have 
understood  him  to  sanction  their  expectation  that  he 
was  to  destroy  and  not  to  save  the  other  nations  of 
the  earth,  and  cried  out,  perhaps,  Hosanna  to  the  son 
of  David  !  But  not  only  did  he  pass  over  this  most 
important  part  of  their  Messianic  traditions,  so  com- 
forting to  them  under  their  present  political  oppres- 
sion, but  he  went  on  to  intimate  that  the  heathen 
were  not  only  to  be  spared,  but  to  be  admitted  into 
the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  '  I  tell  you  of  a  truth, 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  237 

many  widows -were  in  Israel  in  the  days  of  Elias, 
but  unto  none  of  them  was  Elias  sent  save  unto 
Sarepta,  a  city  of  Sidon,  unto  a  woman  that  was  a 
widow.  And  many  lepers  were  in  Israel  in  the  days 
of  Eliseus  the  prophet,  and  none  of  them  were 
cleansed  saving  Naaman  the  Syrian.'  This  Avas  too 
much.  A  Messiah  who  could  tolerate  or  look  favor- 
ably upon  the  heathen,  was  not  to  be  endured.  'And 
all  they  in  the  synagogue,  when  they  heard  these 
things,  were  filled  with  wrath,  and  rose  up  and  thrust 
him  out  of  the  city,  and  led  him  to  the  brow  of  the 
hill  whereon  the  city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast 
him  down  headlong.  But  he,  passing  through  the 
midst  of  them,  went  his  way,  and  came  down  to 
Capernaum,  a  city  of  Galilee,  and  taught  them  on 
the  Sabbath  day  . 

"  The  fame  of  his  miracles  and  his  doctrines  went 
on  to  increase,  till  the  synagogues  became  too  small 
to  contain  the  crowds  which  nocked  to  hear  him. 
He  began,  therefore,  to  teach  them  in  the  open  air. 
Once  he  preached  to  them  from  a  ship,  while  they 
stood  on  the  shore  ;  once  from  a  rising  ground,  that 
his  voice  might  be  better  heard  by  so  vast  a  multi- 
tude. His  discourse  on  this  occasion  is  denominated, 
from  the  place  where  it  was  delivered,  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  Let  us  examine  its  contents,  and 
mark  the  wonderful  wisdom  which  it  displays,  couch- 
ing eternal  truths  in  language  precisely  adapted 
to  present  circumstances  ;  so  that  the  Jew,  when  he 
heard  it,  was  cured  of  his  errors,  and  the  Christian 
to  all  times  finds  himself  edified,  as  if  it  had  been 


238  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

addressed  to  him  alone.  In  that  vast  multitude 
which  was  assembled  from  all  parts  of  Judea,  there 
were,  it  is  probable,  men  of  all  the  different  senti- 
ments which  were  cherished  by  the  Jewish  people 
at  that  period,  uniting  in  but  one  common  sentiment, 
that  the  Messiah  should  be  a  temporal  deliverer, 
should  cleanse  Jerusalem  and  the  holy  laud  of  the 
Roman  standards  which  were  perched  on  every  tower, 
and  redeem  the  people  of  God  from  the  degrading 
tribute  they  were  yearly  compelled  to  pay.  They 
were  ready  to  take  up  arms  in  the  holy  cause  of 
patriotism  and  religion.  They  wanted  but  the  signal 
of  his  hand  to  take  up  their  line  of  march  to  the  city 
of  David,  and  there  they  supposed  that  he  would 
stand  highest  in  the  new  monarchy  whose  sword  had 
drank  most  freely  of  the  blood  of  the  slain.  They 
collected  about  him  with  hearts  bursting  with  na- 
tional pride  and  ambition.  What  must  have  been 
their  astonishment  and  disappointment  when  the  first 
sente-nce  fell  from  his  lips,  '  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  The 
kingdom  of  God  which  you  have  been  so  long  expect- 
ing is  not  an  empire  of  war  and  conquest,  nor  is  it 
that  of  the  Jews,  to  be  exercised  over  foreign  nations. 
It  belongs  to  the  humble,  the  quiet,  the  contented 
It  does  not  come  as  a  cure  for  outward  misfortunes, 
for  political  evils,  for  the  relief  of  proud  hearts  rank- 
ling under  oppression,  but  it  speaks  comfort  to  those 
who  are  bowed  down  under  the  sorrows  of  life  ; 
'  Blessed  are  they  who  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  com- 
forted.' You  expect  the  Messiah  to  vindicate  the 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  23i) 

weak  against  the  strong,  to  repel  injury,  to  revenge 
insult,  that  he  will  set  up  his  empire  with  the  sword 
and  defend  it  by  the  sword.  '  But  I  say  unto  you, 
blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.' 
The  gentle  are  those  who  are  to  flourish  in  the  days 
of  the  Messiah.  They  shall  delight  themselves  in 
the  abundance  of  peace.  You  come  to  me  expect- 
ing a  sign  from  heaven,  to  be  fed  with  manna  from 
the  skies,  as  your  fathers  were  in  the  desert.  I  can 
promise  you  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  blessings  of 
my  kingdom  belong  to  those  only  who  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled. 
You  expect  under  the  Messiah  a  reign  of  bitterness 
and  vengeance,  that  he  will  rule  with  a  rod  of  iron, 
and  dash  his  enemies  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel. 
But  I  come  to  pronounce  blessings  on  the  merciful, 
for  I  assure  them  that  they  shall  find  mercy  from 
their  eternal  Judge.  You,  who  observe  the  laws  of 
Moses,  submit  to  innumerable  ceremonial  ablutions, 
and  therefore  imagine  yourselves  pure  and  prepared 
for  the  kingdom  of  God.  I  assure  you  that  no  such 
purification  will  be  of  any  avail  in  that  kingdom  ; 
'  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
God.'  The  remedies  which  you  propose  for  mortal 
ills  are  essentially  defective.  You  imagine  that  they 
can  be  cured  by  violence  and  resentment,  that  evil 
may  be  remedied  by  evil,  instead  of  being  overcome 
with  good.  But  I  say  unto  you,  '  Blessed  are  the 
peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children 
of  God.'  They  shall  share  the  blessings  of  the  new 
dispensation,  not  those  who  are  vindictive  and  re- 


240  THE  ARCHKO   VOLUME. 

seutful;  but  '  Blessed  are  those  who  are  persecuted 
for  righteousness'  sake.' 

' '  The  new  religion  which  Jesus  was  sent  to  teach, 
was  not  only  to  be  preached  by  himself  to  that  gen- 
eration, but  to  be  perpetuated  to  all  time.  His  own 
ministry  he  knew  was  to  be  short,  and  to  have  a  trag- 
ical end.  It  could  be  perpetuated  in  no  other  way 
than  by  choosing  assistants  while  he  lived,  and  train- 
ing them  to  take  up  the  work  where  he  laid  it  down, 
to  receive  the  gospel  from  his  lips,  proclaim  it  to  the 
world,  and  when  their  days  should  be  numbered 
commit  it  to  others,  who  should  be  prepared  in  their 
turn  to  instruct  a  new  generation,  and  thus  send  it 
down  to  all  future  times.  Had  there  been  no  organ- 
ization of  this  kind,  had  Jesus  chosen  no  Apostles, 
Christianity  would  have  perished  on  the  very  thresh- 
old of  its  existence.  Accordingly,  not  long  after  the 
commencement  of  his  mission,  after  a  night  of  prayer 
to  God,  doubtless  for  Divine  guidance  and  direction, 
he  choose  twelve  men  of  his  more  immediate  followers, 
and  ordained  them  as  his  assistants  and  successors  in 
the  propagation  of  the  new  faith.  To  them  he  ex- 
plained more  fully  the  principles  of  his  religion, 
which  to  the  multitude,  for  fear  of  popular  commo- 
tion, he  veiled  under  the  dress  of  parable  and  allegory. 
He  sent  them  during  his  own  ministry  as  heralds  of 
his  approach,  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  by 
their  own  instructions  for  his  more  perfect  teaching. 

"  These  twelve  Apostles  were  men  from  the  lower 
orders  of  society,  of  but  slender  literary  and  intel- 
lectual cultivation,  without  wealth  or  influential  con- 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  241 

nections.  They  brought  no  accession  of  strength  or 
respectability  to  his  cause.  It  may  seem  at  first 
utterly  unaccountable  on  any  principle  of  human 
policy  that  he  should  have  mad 3  such  a  selection, 
and  quite  as  unaccountable  that  he  himself  should 
have  chosen  to  pass  through  his  ministry  under  an 
exterior  so  exceedingly  humble  ;  that  he  should,  in 
the  language  of  the  Apostles,  have  made  himself  of 
no  reputation,  and  to  all  external  appearances  taken 
the  form  of  a  slave ;  but  when  we  reflect  upon  it, 
we  find  that  it  was  dictated  by  the  highest  wisdom. 
His  external  humility  only  puts  in  strong  contrast 
his  moral  and  spiritual  glory.  He  was  really  so 
great  that  nothing  external  could  add  to  the  gran- 
deur of  his  character.  The  fact  that,  without  avail- 
ing himself  of  a  single  external  advantage,  he  estab- 
lished a  religion  which  disappointed  the  hopes  of 
his  own  nation  and  offered  no  bribe  to  any  of  the 
passions  to  which  the  ambitious  appeal  with  so  much 
success — that  he  told  his  followers  from  the  first  that 
they  were  to  reap  no  worldly  advantage  from  their 
connection  with  him — that  his  disciples  were  utterly 
destitute  of  those  acquirements  by  which  any  cause 
is  usually  carried  forward— all  these  things  throw 
the  philosophical  back  upon  the  only  success,  the 
reality  of  his  mission  from  God,  the  moral  power 
which  truth  always  carries  with  it,  and  those  mirac- 
ulous attestations  which  are  strongest  evidence  to 
the  unsophisticated  mind  of  man  of  a  mission  from 
the  Most  High. 

"  It  may  at  first  sight  seem  strange,  when  he  might 
16 


242  THE  ARGHKO  VOLUME. 

have  gone  up  to  Jerusalem  and  chosen  his  disciples 
from  the  most  learned,  gifted,  and  accomplished  of 
the  rabbinical  schools  which  were  then  flourishing 
there,  that  he  should  have  made  such  a  choice.  Over 
them  he  would  have  manifested  the  same  immeas- 
urable superiority,  and  might  have  wielded  them  to 
accomplish  his  purposes  as  easily  as  those  humbler 
persons  whom  he  actually  choose  as  his  companions. 
Between  him  and  the  intellectual  and  cultivated 
there  would  seem  to  have  been  a  closer  sympathy 
than  with  those  uneducated  Galileans  who,  as  far  as 
we  at  this  time  are  able  to  see,  were  mere  children 
in  his  presence.  But  this  arrangement,  like  every 
other,  was  founded  in  the  highest  wisdom.  The 
function  which  they  were  appointed  to  fill  did  not 
call  either  for  great  talents  or  for  extensive  learning. 
They  were  to  originate  nothing,  they  were  to  add 
nothing  to  what  he  had  taught.  Their  office  was 
simply  that  of  witnesses  of  what  he  had  said  and 
done  and  suffered.  'And  ye  also  shall  bear  witness,' 
said  he  to  his  disciples,  '  because  ye  have  been  with 
me  from  the  beginning.'  After  his  resurrection  he 
said  to  them  :  '  Thus  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  be- 
hooved the  Messiah  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from  the 
dead  the  third  day,  and  that  repentance  and  remis- 
sion of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name  among 
all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem.  And  ye  are 
witnesses  of  these  things.  Ye  shall  receive  power 
after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem  and 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  243 

in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth.' 

' '  This  being  the  office  of  the  disciples,  intellectual 
cultivation  was  not  a  necessary  requisite.  The  qual- 
ities most  necessary  to  a  witness  are  simplicity,  in- 
tegrity, and  courage.  Through  them  the  world  had 
received  the  Gospel.  The  more  transparent  the  me- 
dium through  which  we  receive  it,  the  less  coloring 
it  takes  from  the  minds  through  which  it  was  trans- 
mitted. The  consequence  is  that  we  have  the  most 
simple  and  childlike  narrative  that  the  world  has 
ever  read.  We  do  not  see  the  historians  at  all.  All 
we  see  is  Jesus  Christ,  his  doctrine,  his  character,  his 
life,  his  miracles.  There  is  no  attempt  at  the  intro- 
duction of  the  philosophy  or  opinions  of  the  times, 
with  the  exception  of  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of 
John  ;  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  those  lines 
have  created  more  controversy  in  the  Christian 
Church  than  all  the  rest  of  the  letters.  What  Jesus 
wanted  of  his  Apostles  was  principally  to  be  his  wit- 
nesses to  the  world  and  to  all  succeeding  ages.  On 
their  testimony,  in  fact,  the  faith  of  the  successive 
millions  of  the  Christian  Church  has  depended.  The 
Gospels  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  their  testi- 
mony. Jesus  himself  left  nothing  written.  All 
that  we  know  either  of  him  or  his  doctrines  we  re- 
ceive through  them.  Without  their  testimony  we 
would  not  know  that  such  a  person  had  ever  existed. 
Without  their  testimony  we  would  not  know  what 
he  taught  or  how  he  lived.  It  was  on  the  strength 
of  what  they  have  seen  and  heard  that  they  claimed 


244  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

to  be  the  religious  teachers  of  the  world.  The  rela- 
tion which  the  Apostles  understood  themselves  to 
sustain  to  Jesus  as  witnesses  is  fully  and  clearly 
brought  out  in  Peter's  speech  to  Cornelius  and  his 
friends  :  '  How  God  anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power,  who  went  about 
doing  good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  of 
the  devil,  for  God  was  with  him.  And  we  are  wit- 
nesses of  all  things  which  he  did  both  in  the  land  of 
the  Jews  and  Jerusalem,  whom  they  slew  and  hanged 
on  a  tree,  him  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and 
showed  him  openly,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto 
witnesses  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us  who  did 
eat  and  drink  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead.' 

"  When  the  Saviour  bowed  his  head  upon  the 
cross,  and  said,  '  It  is  finished,'  the  Gospel  was  com- 
plete. He  had  discharged  his  office  as  a  teacher. 
Nothing  could  be  added  to  it,  and  nothing  could  be 
taken  from  it.  The  system  was  perfect.  The  duty 
of  the  Apostles  was  to  promulgate  it  to  the  world. 
So  you  will  observe  that  the  promise  of  Divine 
assistance,  as  far  as  doctrines  are  concerned,  goes  no 
further  than  strengthening  their  memories ;  '  But 
the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all 
things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you.'  They  were  occa- 
sionally instructed  what  to  do,  but  never,  that  we 
read  of,  to  preach  any  new  doctrine  which  had  not 
been  taught  by  Christ  himself. 

"  It  may  seem  strange  to  those  who  are  accustomed 


THE  HfLLEL  LETTERS.  245 

to  dispute  about  words  and  phrases,  that  Christ 
should  have  left  nothing  written,  nothing  which  we 
can  identify  as  the  very  words  which  he  spoke.  The 
stickler  for  creeds  and  formulas  may  lament  that  all 
the  disputes  of  after  ages  were  not  anticipated  and 
prevented  by  a  written  declaration  of  the  Saviour, 
which  would  have  been  so  plain  that  no  dulness 
could  have  misapprehended,  no  ingenuity  perverted 
it.  We  are  fully  justified,  I  believe,  in  asserting 
that  no  such  precaution  would  have  been  effectual. 
Human  language  is  essentially  ambiguous,  every 
word  having  a  variety  of  significations,  any  one  of 
which  becomes  probable  only  because  it  better  suits 
the  connection,  the  purpose,  or  the  sentiments  of  the 
writer.  Language  is  always  addressed  to  reasonable 
beings,  and  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  exercise  their 
reason  in  order  to  understand  it.  It  is  so  with 
Christ's  plainest  instructions.  We  are  always  obliged 
to  use  our  reason  in  order  to  decide  in  what  sense 
his  words  are  to  be  taken.  When  he  tells  us,  '  If 
any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father  and 
mother,  and  wife  and  children,  and  brethren  and 
sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my 
disciple  ;'  are  we  to  interpret  this  literally,  and  say 
that  no  man  can  be  a  Christian  without  hating  father 
and  mother,  and  sisters  and  brothers  ?  By  no  means. 
And  why  ?  Because  it  is  not  reasonable  to  believe 
that  such  was  his  meaning.  We  cannot  suppose  that 
Christ  intended  his  followers  to  prove  false  to  the 
most  important  relations  we  sustain  in  this  life.  We 
conclude,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  use  the  word 


246  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

hate  in  a  literal,  but  a  figurative  sense  of  loving 
them  less  than  himself  and  his  cause.  So  we  inter- 
pret the  precept  which  commands  us  to  cut  off  a 
right  hand,  or  pluck  out  a  right  eye.  We  do  not 
cut  off  our  hands  and  pluck  out  our  eyes,  not  be- 
cause we  are  not  literally  commanded  to  do  so,  but 
reason  teaches  us  that  he  did  not  mean  literally  to 
be  so  taken.  So  whatever  Christ  might  have  left 
written,  there  would  have  remained  the  same  diffi- 
culty of  interpretation.  We  should  still  be  obliged 
to  rest  on  probability,  just  as  we  do  now.  We  can- 
not be  infallibly  certain  that  we  take  a  sentence  of 
Scripture  in  the  true  sense,  without  possessing  inspi- 
ration ourselves.  We  cannot  know  that  we  are  in- 
spired, without  the  power  of  miracles,  or  unless  some 
miracle  were  wrought  for  our  sakes,  for  otherwise  we 
could  not  have  distinguished  those  thoughts  which 
were  miraculously  suggested  from  those  which  oc- 
curred in  the  ordinary  operations  of  our  minds. 

"  Then,  even  had  the  Saviour  left  the  Gospel 
written  with  his  own  hand,  we  would  still  have  been 
compelled  to  rely  on  human  testimony  that  the 
same  identical  words  were  preserved.  The  thing, 
then,  is  evidently  better  as  it  is.  We  would  have 
been  compelled  at  last  to  rely  on  human  testimony 
as  to  what  Christ  did  and  taught  and  suffered.  What 
more  competent  witnesses  could  we  possibly  have 
than  those  who  were  with  him  on  terms  of  the  great- 
est familiarity  during  his  whole  ministry  ?  In  what 
better  form  could  we  have  this  testimony  than  in  the 
Gospel  according  to  Matthew,  written  by  one  of 


THE  HILLEL  LETTERS.  247 

those  who  were  with  him  from  the  beginning,  and 
who  was  present  at  his  crucifixion,  who  ate  and 
drank  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead,  and  who 
spent  his  life  in  propagating  his  religion  ?  What 
more  unobjectionable  testimony  than  that  of  John, 
who  had  been  one  of  the  disciples  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist, who  saw  the  transfiguration,  leaned  on  his  bosom, 
and  shared  his  most  intimate  friendship  ?  As  col- 
lateral proof,  what  more  authentic  than  the  memoirs 
of  Luke  and  Mark,  who  were  the  constant  compan- 
ions of  the  Apostles,  and  heard  them  rehearse  over 
and  over  the  wonderful  story  of  the  teachings  and 
miracles  of  Jesus? 

"  Considered  in  this  light,  as  human  testimony, 
and  it  is  the  only  light  in  which  they  can  be  re- 
garded, those  who  understand  the  principles  of  evi- 
dence most  thoroughly  tell  us  that  their  evidence  is 
the  more  weighty  and  satisfactory  from  their  slight 
variations  from  each  other.  Those  who  frequent 
courts  of  justice  tell  us  that  it  is  utterly  vain  to  ex- 
pect entire  consistency  of  a  number  of  witnesses, 
let  them  be  ever  so  honest  and  ever  so  competent. 
Agreement  in  the  main  facts  is  all  that  is  expected, 
and  nothing  will  sooner  cause  suspicion  of  collusion 
than  for  two  witnesses  to  make,  word  for  word,  the 
same  statement.  'No  human  being  ever  told  the 
same  story  twice  in  the  same  words  and  in  the  same 
order. 

"  Nothing  can  be  more  evident  than  that  the  histo- 
rians were  subjected  to  the  same  common  laws  which 
govern  the  operations  of  the  human  mind.  We 


248  THE  ARCHKO  VOLUME. 

have  in  the  letter  three  different  relations  of  Paul's 
vi&ion  and  conversion,  twice  by  himself  in  public 
speeches,  and  one  from  the  letter  of  Luke,  probably 
from  his  own  lips  in  private  conversation.  Yet  the 
three  accounts  all  vary  from  each  other  in  words  and 
circumstances.  The  four  Evangelists  all  give  us  the 
inscription  upon  the  cross  of  Jesus,  yet  no  two  agree 
in  the  precise  form  of  words  which  was  used.  Mat- 
thew says  that  the  accusation  was,  '  This  is  Jesus, 
the  king  of  the  Jews.'  Mark  says  that  the  super- 
scription was,  '  The  king  of  the  Jews.'  Luke  says 
it  was,  '  This  is  the  king  of  the  Jews.'  John  says 
that  the  title  on  his  cross  was,  '  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  king  of  the  Jews.'  Here,  then,  is  a  variation  in 
the  testimony.  It  is  impossible  that  more  than  one 
of  these  inscriptions  can  be  verbally  accurate.  But 
it  creates  no  distrust,  and  not  one  in  a  hundred  of 
the  Christian  church  has  been  aware  of  its  existence. 
It  is  an  immaterial  variation,  a  discrepancy  which 
must  always  be  allowed  in  human  testimony,  and 
nothing  could  be  more  unreasonable  or  absurd  than 
to  allow  the  least  shade  of  doubt  to  pass  over  the 
mind  as  to  the  reality  of  the  inscription  because  of 
this  verbal  discrepancy.  The  first  three  Evangelists 
have  given  us  Christ's  prayer  in  his  agony  at  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane,  but  each  of  them  in  different 
words.  Yet  no  man  in  his  sober  senses  would  think 
of  doubting  the  actual  occurrence  of  that  thrilling 
scene  on  that  account.  If  anything  in  all  history  of 
the  past  can  be  said  to  bear  the  native  impress  of 
truth,  it  is  this  whole  transaction." 


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